Today, I had the opportunity to review Professor Sylvester Monye's latest book, "The Concession of Asaba International Airport: Balancing Politics and Policy Execution.” The review was attended by former President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, GGFR, Governor Sheriff F. Oborevwori of Delta State, former Senate President, H.E Dr Abubakar Bukola Saraki CON, former SGF Boss Mustapha, CFR, and former President Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, GCFR, who chaired the event. The book offers a master class in policy management in a complex political environment and sheds light on the challenges and intricacies involved in such a monumental project. It was a privilege to gain insight into the experiences and perspectives shared in the book, and I believe it offers valuable lessons for future policymakers and governments undertaking similar endeavours. Congratulations to Professor Monye on this insightful and thought-provoking work.

1. @kfayemi @JKFayemi John Kayode Fayemi PhD.
The Concession of
Asaba International
Airport
Balancing Politics and Policy Execution
by Professor Sylvester Monye.
Dr. Kayode Fayemi (CON)
Visiting Professor, African Leadership Centre,
King's College, London, UK
Shehu Musa Yar'Adua
Centre, Abuja - FCT
Tuesday 14th May, 2024
A Review by:

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@kfayemi @JKFayemi John Kayode Fayemi PhD.
The Concession of Asaba International Airport:
Balancing Politics and Policy Execution by Professor Sylvester Monye
This is a unique offering from the writing stable of Professor Sylvester Monye. As a
student of politics and policy, I consider the Concession of Asaba International
Airport: Balancing Politics and Policy Execution a master class in policy
management in a complex political environment. As a politician privileged to have
had the experience of building an airport from scratch, I could relate to many of the
challenges highlighted in the 250 page, four part, ten chapter book published by the
Africa Institute for Public Policy. As the Senior Policy Adviser to Governor Ifeanyi
Okowa saddled with the responsibility of making the Asaba International Airport
work without constituting a financial burden on the state, the perspective of the book
throughout is one from the inside looking out. From the outside, people at the heart of
government look all powerful, on the inside, they often feel helpless, stretched
sometimes beyond breaking point by the weight of expectations on the one hand and
the sheer complexity and difficulty of meeting them on the other. This was exactly the
position Professor Monye found himself in when he was given the task. The airport
has become “an accident waiting to happen”, an embarrassing albatross on the neck
of the new Okowa government, having been downgraded and decertified by the
regulatory authority barely a month before its inauguration and the media scrutiny
was intense.
To the ordinary eye, building an airport should simply fall into the category of
provision of infrastructure in any state, purely a bricks and mortar issue. In reality
though, this seemingly straightforward “bricks and mortar” issue in a complex
political environment assumes a different context which took the project two decades
to completion and concession. We learned in the book that the idea of an airport was
initiated by the James Ibori administration with the full design for the airport
produced before the exit of that government, (that is if we discount the procurement
of the land on which the airport is now built by the first MilitaryAdministratorof the
state from Chief Sonny Okogwu), physical construction of the airport began and was
completed under Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan with the operation of commercial
flights, whilst the airport also experienced downgrading and suspension of operations
before the exit of the Uduaguan administration as well as comprehensive
reconstruction, recertification and concessioning under Governor Ifeanyi Okowa.

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@kfayemi @JKFayemi John Kayode Fayemi PhD.
The Concession of Asaba International Airport:
Balancing Politics and Policy Execution by Professor Sylvester Monye
In spite of the challenges experienced in the twenty years it took to get Asaba
International Airport concessioned and operational, successive administrations
never reneged on their commitment to accomplishing the task, even though the
making of Asaba the political capital of Delta State remained controversial and
neverreallygainedthesupportofcertaincriticalstakeholdersintheState.Professor
Monye extensively examined the contentious political dynamics that is uniquely
Deltan, speaking to all the founding leaders from General Ibrahim Babangida who
created the state to Chief EK Clark, Chief Mrs Rita Ogbebor to Professor Sam
Oyovbaire and all the Governors from James Ibori to Emmanuel Uduaguan and
Ifeanyi Okowa. He gave insight into the historic tension among the majorethnicities
in Delta - the Urhobo, the Itsekiri, Ijaw and theAnioma to give vent to his eventual
conclusion that public projects even when technically appropriate can suffer an
irreparable damage from the politics of appropriation. It is credit to all the leaders
that they were able to rise above their strong filial links and promoted a balance of
power that has not only seen rotation of Governors among the main ethnicities
spread across the three senatorial districts in spite of the prevalent fear of Urhobo
domination but also the promotion of the major cities in the state as economic hubs.
Beyondthepoliticsoflocationandthebalanceofpowersandinterestinthestate,the
most fascinating aspect of the book relates to the lessons drawn on project planning,
management and execution. Understandably, Professor Monye has brought his
extensive experience as an International Business Management scholar and an
erstwhile SpecialAdviser on Performance Monitoring and Evaluation to President
GoodluckJonathantobearonthisaspectofthebook,drawingusefullessons forthe
benefit of future governments and policy makers that may want to embark on big
ticketprojectssuchasthis.Someofthelessonsthatcanbegleanedfromthebookinclude
but are not limited to: the importance of moving from careful planning to strategy to
policy in delivering sustainable projects. For example, whilst there was a vague
justification for the construction of an airport, there was no Masterplan that carefully
articulateswhatthevisionisandhowit'sgoingtobesuccessfullydeliveredandsustained
overthelongterm,especiallygiventheproximityofBenin,OsubiandOwerriAirports.

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@kfayemi @JKFayemi John Kayode Fayemi PhD.
The Concession of Asaba International Airport:
Balancing Politics and Policy Execution by Professor Sylvester Monye
It would appear that this is a problem with virtually all the airports in Nigeria, if we
are to go by a recent statement by the Honourable Minister for Aviation and
Aerospace Development, himself a proud Deltan, Mr Festus Keyamo SAN. He
conceded in a television interview that none of the Federal airports has a Masterplan
withalongtermperspectiveofwhattheairportseekstoachieve.Yetthesustainability
of any airport demands “more than just a passing interest… it has to be run like a
business enterprise, not just a social service”. It is again to the credit of Professor
Monye’s team in Delta State that they were able to achieve a course correction by
successfully producing a Master Plan for the Asaba International Airport. A bigger
credit goes to Governor Okowa in promoting professional competence, insisting on
what is best for the state and giving a free hand to his team for the accomplishments
made.
InspiteoftheboldmovebyGovernorUduaghantocontinuefromwhereGovernorIbori
stoppedbyactivatinftheairportdesignleftbyhispredecessor-agovernmentinwhichhe
was SSG, in Professor Monye’s view, it would appear that the decision to jettison the
originalarchitecturaldesignconsultantsandthereluctanceofanexperiencedcontractor-
Julius Berger - to take up the project for security reasons - constituted the first major
impediment towards achieving the Governor's vision. Coupled with the lack of a
masterplan, the subsequent process in which the eventual contractor(ULO) became
instrumentalinprocuringthenewsupervisoryconsultantsledtoasituationinwhichthe
contractorendedasJudgeandjuryintheproject.AccordingtoProfessorMonye,“itwas
more catastrophic for the state that the contractor was allowed to have a say in the
engagement of ‘his own supervising consultant`. It is not done anywhere. Therefore, it
shouldnothavecometoanyoneasasurprisethatboththecontractorandtheconsultants
became friends.“(p44) With the collusion of a complicit bureaucracy, the sabotage of
Governor Uduaghan’s bold vision was complete and it was no surprise that the project
experiencedrepeatedcostvariationinwhichthecontractoriginallyawardedforN6.8billion
in May 2008 was revised upward to N21.2 billion by September 2014 and according to
ProfessorMonye,byJanuary2015,“DeltaStateGovernmenthadinvestedinexcessof40
BillioninthedevelopmentoftheAirport.

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@kfayemi @JKFayemi John Kayode Fayemi PhD.
The Concession of Asaba International Airport:
Balancing Politics and Policy Execution by Professor Sylvester Monye
“ (p. 41). Even at that, the alliance between the contractor and the supervisory
consultant became immensely harmful to the project as was noticed in the shoddy
quality of the construction work.And since the work did not enjoy rigorous oversight
by Government engineers anyway, the dream of a state of the art airport had
foundered but not irreparably.
Now with a functioning airport, even if at a sub-optimal level, many would have
thought the problem of the airport was over. But as graphically captured by Professor
Monyeinthebook,thechallengeofsustainabilityhadjustbegan.Indeed,theoverhead
costofrunningtheairportbythestatehadbecomeunsustainable.Thetotaloperations
cost spent by the Delta State Government on the airport between 2011 and 2016 was
N2, 546,988,955.00 (inclusive of NAMA, NIMET and FAAN) charges. And for the
corresponding period, the airport only generated a total revenue of N115, 292,794.00.
By the time Governor Okowa came on board in May 2015, the airport had been
downgraded with a long list of conditions to be met from the aviation regulatory body
iftheairportwastoavoidbeingcompletelyshutdown.Atthetime,Nigeriawasalready
tottering at the edge of an economic recession and oil prices had plummeted in the
internationalmarkettothelow$20s,sofederalandstates’financeswerealreadyindire
straits. In this context, the decision by Governor Okowa not to romantically attach
himself to what was fast becoming a white elephant project without taking decisive
measures was commendable. While he remained committed to seeing through the
vision of a functional airport in the State, he had come to the conclusion that his
government was not in a position to manage the airport. So, in agreeing to meet the
conditions laid down by the aviation regulator, he also decided on the immediate
concessioning of the airport and the hiring of a transaction Adviser to work with his
own team led by Professor Monye. Chapters Four, Five and Six of the book went into
great detail on the engagement of the TransactionAdviser, the Feasibility Report and
Master Plan produced and the Stakeholder engagement undertaken to get the buy-in
of critical stakeholders. (For example, the team felt it was important to engage and
secure the support of Governors Ibori and Uduaguan that initiated and constructed
the airport.)

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@kfayemi @JKFayemi John Kayode Fayemi PhD.
The Concession of Asaba International Airport:
Balancing Politics and Policy Execution by Professor Sylvester Monye
These chapters should not only be required reading in our MBA and MPA classes in
terms of the comprehensiveness and depth of analysis, but also compulsory texts for
public sector officials involved in the practicalities of preparing and managing complex
concessionarrangements.
Chapter7inthebookprovidesextensivedetailsontheconcessioningoftheairportwhich
was accelerated with the victory of Governor Okowa for his second term in office.
However, the concessioning process that was expected to last six weeks from
commencementofbidopeningandnegotiationsonAugust6,2019 wasonlycompleted
and approved by the State Executive Council on October 13, 2020, with Messrs
FIDC-Menzies as the preferred bidder. The entire concession agreement with the
Attorney General’s opinion covers almost a hundred pages in the book (from p. 120 -
208). It covers to the minutest detail what is expected of the government and the
concessionnaire. Although some of the conditions precedent were not met by
government as yet and there were other attempts to frustrate the concession -
comprehensivelydetailedinChapter8onPostConcessionIssuesandChallenges-such
as the vandalisation of equipment and sabotage of the Runway, and difficulty in
changing the mindset of senior government officials who wanted to continue with
business as usual even after the Concessionnaire had taken over the running of the
airport.
Notwithstanding these teething challenges, Professor Monye went on to highlight the
benefits of the Concession agreement which effectively transferred the management of
the airport to the Concessionaire by January 2021. Apart from the savings from
overhead and operational spending by the state unlike what obtained initially, the State
has received over a billion naira signature bonus at the commencement of the
Concession.Additionally, the Concessionaire has upgraded the facilities at the airport -
with the provision of free Wi-Fi services for all passengers and airport users, total
replacementoftheelectricitysystemattheairport-includingtheprocurementof new

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@kfayemi @JKFayemi John Kayode Fayemi PhD.
The Concession of Asaba International Airport:
Balancing Politics and Policy Execution by Professor Sylvester Monye
generating sets, provision of new navigational aids and resolution of the problems
associatedwiththeC-VOR navigational aid, improved security at the airport with
better lighting, recruitment and training of over 150 new staff, renovation of the
terminal building, repair of sewage system, increase in storage capacity of jet fuel
attheairport,procurementofanewILS,installationofanautomatedcarparking
system, completion of the first 10 units of housing for staff on secondment by
regulatory authorities from Lagos andAbuja and installation of a new central air
conditioning system amongst other improvements, all at no cost to the state.
Given the impact of the agreement and the aforementioned improvements on the
resurgence in air traffic inAsabaAirport within two years of operation (368,817
passengers in 2021, 350,468 in 2022 and 263,675 in 2023), making it the third
busiest airport in the country today, after Lagos and Abuja airports, one can
already conclude that the decision to concession the airport has turned out to be
an inspired one by the Okowa administration. Yet a key lesson in addition to the
many highlighted in the book is the importance of the Government meeting some
of the conditions precedent for this initiative to be sustained over the long term.
While theAsabaAirport concession is not the first in the country in the aviation
sector,theexperienceofthefirstconcessionbetweentheFAANand Bi-Courteney
consortium and the most recent failed concession exercise in the four major
airports has underscored the need forthis success story to be sustained.The book
has highlighted some of the areas where the Delta State Government need to
buckle up and meet its own end of the agreement on internal perimeter fencing,
internal roads for security patrol, Fire service watch tower to mention a few, but
thishasnotdeterredtheConcessionairefromforgingaheadwithworkonthenew
Cargo Terminal and the Tank Farm as part of their ongoing commitment to
develop theAerotropolis as outlined in the Masterplan.

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@kfayemi @JKFayemi John Kayode Fayemi PhD.
The Concession of Asaba International Airport:
Balancing Politics and Policy Execution by Professor Sylvester Monye
Thisisanexcellentcasestudyontheplanning,strategyandpolicyissuesrelatingto
the successful concessioning of an airport. The approach outlined by the author
could very well apply to any PPParrangement. Given the number of airports that
havebeenbuiltandarestillbeingbuiltbyvariousstategovernmentsinthecountry
and around the continent and with many of them sub-optimally utilised, there are
very useful lessons from the book on the need for clarity of vision and detailed
masterplanning process, criticality of balancing the dynamics of politics and policy
execution, importance of continuity of policy and programmes even in periods of
transition, relevance of PPParrangements especially in the quest to achieve value
for money in government projects, insistence on the integrity and transparency in
such PPPtransaction process, and ensuring effective and constant communication
with critical stakeholders.
Professor Monye is to be commended for his painstaking articulation of how the
Okowa government went about this assignment. He has provided a cure forone of
the most debilitating ailments of many privileged to serve in high office - their
reluctance or refusal to document their experience for the benefit of others who
have a lot to learn from such experiences.
Thank you for listening.