Babalakin’s MMA2 Breakthrough: The End of a 20-year Aviation War and the Road Ahead

On October 20, 2026, Aviation Minister Festus Keyamo and lawyer and businessman Wale Babalakin signed a final settlement that ends a dispute over Murtala Muhammed Airport Terminal Two (MMA2) in Lagos. The Federal Executive Council approved it, ending the fight that had run for nearly two decades. MMA2 is the first and only major Nigerian airport terminal built wholly with private money. After a fire destroyed the old domestic terminal in 2000, Babalakin’s Bi-Courtney Aviation Services took over the project as reserve bidder when the first winner defaulted, and it opened in May 2007. It handles about 75 per cent of Lagos’s domestic flights and can take four million passengers a year. It was also the first terminal in West Africa with common-use check-in systems, self-service kiosks and baggage reconciliation. The Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) said the concession ran for 12 years, while Bi-Courtney said the Yar’Adua government approved 36. Bi-Courtney also said the government broke an exclusivity clause by keeping the old General Aviation Terminal open and diverting flights. Bi-Courtney sued, won a N132 billion judgment for lost revenue and saw the Supreme Court uphold it. The government did not pay, and Bi-Courtney withheld its concession fees, which stalled a hotel and conference centre. Under the settlement, Bi-Courtney writes off the N132 billion, gives up claims to the old terminal, drops the exclusivity clause on other Lagos domestic airport developments and resumes paying concession fees immediately. The government cancels two decades of unpaid concession fees, restores the hotel and conference centre projects with a 24-month deadline, approves moving regional flights to MMA2 and grants extra land to enlarge the aircraft apron. Two answers are missing from most reports: how much in fees was cancelled, and whether the settlement fixes the concession at 12 or 36 years, a central point of the fight. The 24-month deadline is the first date to watch; no penalty for missing it is reported.