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Rights group sues FG, others for alleged irregularities in Lagos airport concession

By Bertram Nwannekanma
07 September 2022   |   4:05 am
Centre for Transparency and Defence of Human Rights has sued the Federal Government at a Federal High Court in Lagos for alleged irregularities in the bid process for the concession of Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Lagos.

Murtala Muhammed Internatıonal Aırport, Lagos.

Centre for Transparency and Defence of Human Rights has sued the Federal Government at a Federal High Court in Lagos for alleged irregularities in the bid process for the concession of Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Lagos.

The group, in a writ of summons by its lawyer, Samuel Agweh (SAN), is asking the court to compel the Federal Government through the Ministry of Aviation to disqualify TAV Airport Holding Company and GMR Airport Limited, two of the companies participating in the Lagos airport concession bid process, over alleged dishonesty and misrepresentation.

The suit also has the Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF), Federal Ministry of Aviation, Nigerian Aviation Handling Company (NAHCO) Plc, Director-General, Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission (ICRC), TAV Airport Holding Company and GMR Airport Limited as co-defendants, while the date for hearing of the case is yet to be fixed.

In the suit, the plaintiff averred that Tav Airport Holding Company and GMR Airport Ltd., which submitted separate bids and were shortlisted for the next phase of the concession, are allegedly owned by same company, Airport De Paris (ADP).

According to the applicant, the status of the two companies is contrary to the Request For Qualification (RFQ) guidelines set out by the Ministry of Aviation, which stipulate that companies owned by same entity cannot submit separate bids for the concession.

The Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) further claimed that the actions of the two companies amounted to dishonesty, lack of integrity and deliberate attempt to deceive the contracting authority in handing over the nation’s gateway to “persons of questionable character, who lack integrity and repute.”

Consequently, the plaintiff is seeking, “a declaration that the submission of separate bids by TAV Airport Holding (sixth defendant) and GMR Airport Limited (seventh defendant) with the impression that they are separate entities amount to a material misrepresentation and a breach of Section 2.2, subsection 2.2.1 of the Request For Qualification (RFQ) for the concession of Murtala Muhammed International Airport.”

The group also wants a declaration that the “submission of separate bids by the sixth and seventh defendants is not only wrongful, but amounts to act of dishonesty, deceit and lawlessness, an order directing the third defendant (Ministry of Aviation) to immediately disqualify the sixth defendant-led consortium and the seventh defendant’s submission as well as ADP as a stand-alone party from participation in the tender or joining any group in future after pre-qualifications results are announced.”

Executive Director of the NGO, Kunle Edun, in a sworn witness statement attached to the suit, claimed that a search on the Internet revealed that ADP owns 46 per cent of GMR and 49 per cent of TAV.

He maintained that by bidding separately for the same contract, the two defendants went against the standard ethics required by applicants for the bidding as provided in Section 3, subsection 3.1 of the Request For Proposal (RFP) guidelines.

Edun pointed that the attention of the AGF was drawn to the “misrepresentation by the two companies via a letter dated June 15, 2022, but the AGF refused to disqualify the sixth defendant-led consortium for breaching the eligibility criteria, verification and disqualification guideline, as well as for act of dishonesty and deceit, but rather decided to disqualify only the seventh defendant from the bid and retain the sixth defendant led consortium.”

He insisted that the action of the AGF was wrong and amounted to “condoning lawlessness, corruption, illegality, dishonesty, impunity and deceit, and is unacceptable.”

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