Foreign Firms Eyeing Nigerian Airports, FG Demands Proposals

The Federal Government has said it will send requests for proposals to qualified bidders for the concession of Nigeria’s four major international airports after assessing the requests for qualification.

It also said the preceding stage – request for qualifications phase of the Nigeria Airport Concessions Programme – came to a close at 3:00pm on Monday.

The October 25, 2021 deadline was announced by the Federal Ministry of Aviation on September 13, 2021, after deliberations with the Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission and the transaction advisers, as the committee allowed for a four-week extension, in response to requests from would-be bidders.

The Director, Public Affairs, James Odaudu, told our correspondent in Abuja that the committee would assess the RFQs and would send out invitations to qualified bidders.

“There’s a technical committee that will assess the submissions. After the assessment, those deemed qualified will be invited to submit their formal bids,” he said.

The Federal Government has been making efforts towards the concession of the four major airports in Lagos, Abuja, Port Harcourt and Kano, and is currently holding meetings with labour unions on the matter.

Providing further insight on the next step, Odaudu said, “The Ministry of Aviation reminds all stakeholders that this is a multistage programme and that RFQ stage will be followed with a Request for Proposal, which shall be published and sent directly to qualified bidders for their response.”

He explained that qualified bidders would be announced once the bid opening committee had received, opened and reviewed each submission, based on the detailed terms of reference and RFQ guidelines contained in the RFQ bidders package.