TheCable

The federal government has erroneously described Bayo Ogunlesi, founder of Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP), as the owner of Gatwick Airport on the list of persons to receive national honours.

On Saturday, the federal government published a list of 437 persons nominated to receive national honours.

On number 58 of the persons to be honoured with the commander of the order of the Niger (CON) is Adebayo Ogunlesi and against his status, he is described as “Owner of Gatwick Airport”.

Ogunlesi is the chief executive officer and founder of Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP), a global infrastructure fund management company.

GIP invests in infrastructure businesses with assets in the energy, transportation, water and waste sectors.

Gatwick Airport, England, was initially owned by the British Airports Authority (BAA) until 2009 when it was acquired by a GIP-led consortium.

Gatwick Aiport announced in 2019 that VINCI Airports, a leading private airport operator, acquired a 50.01 percent stake in the airport, making VINCI the majority stakeholder, and leaving GIP with 49.99 percent interest in the airport.

“May marked the beginning of new management with VINCI Airports owning the majority shareholding of 50.01% and the remainder owned by a consortium of investors and managed by Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP), who have operated Gatwick since 2009,” the airport writes in its about page.

The airport is co-managed by VINCI and GIP.

Other than the goof with the ownership of Gatwick, the federal government again nominated Kayode Fayemi, governor of Ekiti for the CON award, eight years after the administration of former president Goodluck Jonathan nominated him for the same award.