The Government of Nigeria is ready to launch the the tender process of four international airports in the country under public-private partnership PPP model.

The four international airport projects involved are the following:

• the Murtala Mohammed International Airport in Lagos;
• Aminu Kano International Airport, located in Kano,
• Abuja airport and
• Port Harcourt International airport.

The Nigerian government is now seeking a transaction adviser to assist in the procurement process. According to sources, the Minister of State for Aviation, Sen. Hadi Sirika said:

“This will take time because we have to respond to law and due process and the government is in the process of appointing a Transaction Adviser.

We have already been to Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission (ICRC), they have posted a staff to us and they are also partnering with us to see that we have a very smooth activity.

The Transaction Adviser would be the one to guide the process and I am sure that government will not hesitate to give us the liberty that is critical in the appointment.

Going forward, we do believe that in this current situation that the country has found itself, the new challenge, sources of revenue are dwindling and the rate of foreign exchange is not favourable.

In accordance with global best practices, it is not wise for us to continue to take the burden of running these airports.’’

In late May we informed about government's plans to re-launch the tender process to carry out the development of the second international airport in Lagos through a public private partnership (PPP) project. The airport, which will be promoted by Lagos State government, is to complement the existing federal-owned Murtala Mohammed International Airport (MMA) in Ikeja. A total of four firms are currently supporting Lagos State to carry out the project:

• Arup, which provides engineering, design, planning, project management and consulting services,
• Norton Rose Fulbright, a global legal firm,
• Stanbic IBTC Capital, a member of Standard Bank Group, which is acting as the sole financial adviser,
• Banwo & Ighodalo, a legal firm based in Nigeria.