Image of the Akanu Ibiam Airport Source: FAAN website
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Claim: Social media users claimed the Akanu Ibiam International Airport, Enugu, has been allegedly sold by the government to a private enterprise.
Verdict: Misleading! The Federal Government of Nigeria concessioned the airport to Aero Alliance under a 30-year Public-Private Partnership (PPP), while retaining ownership.
Full Text
On Feb 6, 2026, videos circulated on social media showing passengers stranded at the Akanu Ibiam International Airport in Enugu.
According to news reports, a coalition of aviation workers at the airport had staged a protest that morning, shutting down flight operations to protest against the government’s concession of the airport to private individuals without adequate consultation with relevant stakeholders.
Some hours later, however, media reports noted that the airport had resumed operations.
Amid the saga, a claim surfaced on social media that the airport had been sold to private individuals, which prompted the protest earlier that day.
The Facebook pages that shared the claim noted that the new ‘owners’ had sealed the airport, citing the poor condition of the exit area, which was deemed unsafe for operations.
Other users who commented on the posts asked for further information as to who bought the airport and the terms of agreement the supposed new owners had with airport workers.
Anita Musalema wrote, “We said it last year that with APC, Nigerians will wake up one morning to see Nigeria on the stock exchange market sold.”
VC Eze quipped, “Who sold the airport to whom?” while Adaora Okonkwo asked, “Does it mean that an individual owns the airport? I thought it was government property.”
DUBAWA also observed that some posts tagged the airport as owned by the Enugu state government, further piquing users’ curiosity about why the state government sold the airport.
Considering the implications of the viral claim on the public, DUBAWA probed its veracity.
Verification
DUBAWA’s keyword search returned news reports from Jan 23, 2026 when the Federal government of Nigeria signed the concession agreement for the Akanu Ibiam International Airport, Enugu.
The Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo, had explained that the Federal Executive Council had on July 31, 2025, approved the proposal to concession the Enugu Airport, subject to contract.
He further noted that subsequent negotiations and consultations by the ministry, FAAN, and Aero Alliance had centralized safeguarding of workers’ welfare.
In 2016, the Federal Government initiated the airport concession process to attract foreign investment and technical partnerships in the aviation infrastructure sector.
At the time, four major international airports in Lagos, Kano, Abuja, and Port Harcourt were to be concessioned, and some consortiums had won the bids to manage the airports, but this process could not be taken further due to pushback from the aviation unions.
However, by 2024, Keyamo announced plans to reintroduce airport concessions, including the Akanu Ibiam International Airport in Enugu.
What is a concession agreement?
According to Investopedia, concession agreements allow companies to operate businesses on government or third-party properties under specific terms.
The Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission further establishes that a Public-Private Partnership concession contract is one that makes the private-sector concessionaire responsible for the full delivery of the specified infrastructure services, including operation, maintenance, collection, management, and construction and rehabilitation of the system.
It added that while the private sector is responsible for all capital investments, the assets are owned by the public sector even during the concession period, and the public sector (government) is responsible for establishing performance standards and ensuring that the concessionaire meets them.
Conclusion
The claim that the Akanu Ibiam International Airport in Enugu has been sold is misleading! The government had only approved the concession of the airport to a private entity, and ownership still lies with the government.
