President Bola Tinubu has resolved a 20-year-old dispute between Dr. Wale Babalakin-owned Bi-Courtney Aviation Services Limited and the Federal Government over the concessioning of the local wing of Muritala Muhammed Airport in Lagos.
The federal government approved a comprehensive settlement of the dispute which dates back to the early 2000s, following the concession of the facility at the domestic terminal of the MMA 2 in Lagos to Bi-Courtney.
Festus Keyamo, minister of aviation and aerospace development, announced the development on Thursday after the federal executive council (FEC) meeting chaired by President Tinubu.
As part of the settlement terms, regional flights have now been moved to MMA2, meaning that airlines could start operating regional flights from the facility.
This is the crux of the longstanding issue in the concession to Bi-Courtney, which reportedly had its approval to run regional flights withdrawn under the regime of former President Goodluck Jonathan, despite the company’s over N600 million investment.
“Council today approved the terms of the agreement we reached with Babalakin to settle all the vexed issues surrounding that airport,” the minister said.
He said one of the major points of contention was Bi-Courtney’s claim that the concession covered the adjacent MMA1 domestic terminal —a position upheld by the Supreme Court, which ordered the federal government to pay N132 billion plus interest.
But as part of the negotiations, Bi-Courtney agreed to write off the N132 billion Supreme Court judgment debt, dropped the exclusivity clause, and handed MM1 back to FG.
In exchange, it’s a win-win deal as FG returned the stalled hotel/conference centre project opposite the MMA2 (to complete and operate on shared basis), will shift regional flights to MM2 (with apron expansion if needed), and immediately starts earning revenue share.
“We gave it (hotel/conference) back to him. Complete and run it on a shared basis with the federal government. So it’s not even exclusive. So Babalakin has 24 months to complete that conference center and hotel. We told him we will not tolerate any delay again,” Keyamo said.
The minister stressed the deal also provides for the relocation of regional flight operations to MMA2 and activates revenue-sharing between the federal government and the concessionaire.
“Immediately after today, the federal government will now begin to earn its own share from the operations of MMA2,” Keyamo said.
He described the agreement as a “give-and-take” resolution that benefits both parties.
