Bi-Courtney Aviation Services Limited, operator of the Murtala Muhammed Airport, Lagos Terminal Two, says the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria owes the company over N200bn.
This was said in a statement signed by its spokesman, Mikail Mumuni, in response to the Federal Government’s earlier claim that Bi-Courtney was owing the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria.
The Minister of Aviation, Hadi Sirika, had said that the ministry would begin to intensify its efforts to recover the over N37bn owed by airlines in the country and cited Bi-Courtney Limited as owing about N13bn.
Bi-Courtney’s statement read in part, “On the contrary, it is FAAN that owes Bi-Courtney over N200bn by depriving it of its legitimate earnings over the past 14 years.”
Mumuni explained that FAAN had been competing with BASL in running the domestic terminal through the opening and operating of the General Aviation Terminal which is a flagrant breach of the concession agreement.
He further said the N14bn debt mentioned by the Minister was not consistent with the demands of FAAN.
“BASL in line with the dispute resolution process contained in the agreement had an arbitration award in its favour. It also got the judgement of a High Court, six Court of Appeal judgements and a Supreme Court judgement, all in its favour and sustained the monetary award,
“The N14bn debt mentioned by the Minister is totally inconsistent with the demand by FAAN, the body which has been liaising with BASL. Their last demand was about N1bn, which was promptly responded to by BASL stating categorically that there was no such debt.”
The spokesman further said BASL is a law-abiding company which pays up its bills when due.
“We believe that Minister was not properly briefed by FAAN as we also pay our electricity bills as and when due. We equally provide elaborate security at the Terminal which has continued to attract commendation from stakeholders. ”
