The Federal Government abd Bi-Courtney Avistion Setvices have settled a 20-year dispute over the MM2 Terminal at Murtala Muhammed Airport in Lagos.
Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo, announced this at a press conference after the Federal Executive Council meeting on Monday.
His words: ”
Yesterday, the Federal Executive Council presided over by Mr. President approved my memo to end the 20-year old dispute between the Federal Government and Bi-Courtney Ltd over MM2 Airport in Lagos. For more than one year, we were locked in negotiations on how to get out of the impasse. These are just the highlights:
* Bi-Courtney wrote off the N132 billion court-assessed damages against the Federal Government.
* Bi-Courtney handed back MMI Airport (the old local Terminal) which the Supreme Court ordered to be handed over to it.
* Bi-Courtney gave up its right to exclusively run any private or domestic airport in and around Lagos State as affirmed by the courts.
* Bi-Courtney agreed to commence the payment of Concession fee due and payable under the Concession Agreement dated 24th April 2003 from when the settlement agreement is executed. Because of the dispute, the Federal Government has also lost its own part of the revenue for nearly 20 years.
In exchange for the above, the Federal Government agreed to the following:
* FG also wrote off all the concession fees Bi-Courtney has not paid since the concession agreement was signed nearly 20 years ago due to the disputes.
* FG returned the uncompleted hotel and conference centre opposite the airport (which it has previously revoked) to Bi-Courtney to complete and operate within 24 months and from which the FG will have its own share.
* FG agreed to move regional flights to MM2 (which had been approved, but not operational for years now) to the extent of its capacity.
* FG agreed to give Bi-Courtney more land space to expand the apron of MM2 to accommodate more airplanes.”
