The Minister of Transport, Rotimi Amaechi; and Minister of State for Aviation, Senator Hadi Sirika, on Thursday met the Senate to address the lawmakers on the planned closure of the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport Abuja.
The Senate had on Tuesday kicked against the planned closure of the Abuja airport over repairs on its runway and the diversion of flights to the Kaduna airport.
The closure is scheduled to begin from March 2017 and will last for six weeks.
Lawmakers are opposing the closure of the airport which they say would bring hardship on local and international travellers.
Sirika, explained that to continue to operate, the Abuja airport will be unsafe and unreasonable as there are daily incidents on the runway.
Captain Sirika said that every flight plan always have alternate landing routes and Kaduna has always been the alternate for Abuja airport.
He also pointed out that most of the sections of the runway have collapsed and if multiple sections have collapsed, it means the entire runway has collapsed.
The runway in the Abuja airport was constructed in 1982 with a lifespan of 14 years which had been exceeded.
The Minister also disclosed that the proposed repairs of the runway of Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport Abuja will gulp N5.8 billion.
The amount is N4.6 billion higher than the funds appropriated for the same purpose by the immediate past administration of Goodluck Jonathan. Specifically, the Jonathan earmarked the sum of N1.2 billion for the project in the 2015 budget.
Sirika, who was grilled for about three hours, however, failed to give the cost of logistics to the alternative Kaduna Airport.
The minister disclosed that increase of the 3.6 kilometres runway by N4.6 billion was occasioned by continued damage to the runway as well as expansion of the project to cover the whole area.
He explained that the previous administration had a limited scope of the project, compared with the present administration.
“This work is not for six weeks, but six months. But the closure is for six weeks. This is to enable us work on the runway. We have gotten to a critical stage where we cannot work on the airport and allow planes to fly. We want to take advantage of the dry season to quickly work on it. If we do not take advantage of this opportunity, we will have to wait till the next dry season.
“Nigeria has closed its runway before. Port Harcourt International Airport runway was closed for over two years. That airport is not less important than Abuja Airport.
“We have been meeting with every stakeholder for at least two months. Kaduna Airport will be the alternate airport within this period.
“We have a huge responsibility to do what is good. The two options of working at night and opening the airport during the day will not work. The other reason is that we are constructing and not necessarily repairing.
“We will have equipment all over the airport and this is dangerous. There will be incidences that will cause accidents. If anything goes wrong, we will be held responsible. We just had seven incidents, which were attributed to windshield.
“For a high travel individual, he will only have to do this for six weeks in his entire life. We are working with security agencies and Ministries, religious leaders and Government of Kaduna State” he submitted.
However, Sirika’s inability to provide a breakdown of the financial cost, led to the suspension of the talks between the two parties. President of the Senate, Bukola Saraki who presided over the session told the Minister to get the necessary documents and return next Tuesday with cost of logistics and second runway for Abuja Airport.
Also, he was mandated to consult with the Nigerian Society of Engineers (NSE) and appear alongside the Minister of Works, Power and Housing, Babatunde Fashola, the construction company – Julius Berger – Chief of Air Staff, Managing Directors of Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), Nigeria Airspace Management Agency (NAMA).
Aviation stakeholders have expressed divergent views on the proposed closure of the airport for six weeks and the use of Kaduna Airport as alternative.
But Saraki while expressing concerns on the development, revealed that he has been bombarded with calls from Nigerians and ambassadors on the security implication of diverting local and international flights to Kaduna Airport.
Saraki noted: “All around the world, international airports are not closed. From Europe to our neighbours in Ghana, they do not close airports. We also want to know how you will handle the security concerns expressed about Kaduna Airport. Nigerians and our partners across the world have expressed worry. Ambassadors have reached out to us to express their concerns.”
But the minister revealed that government would fully take care of the movement of people from the Abuja Airport to Kaduna.
He said: “We will have at every intersection, traffic controllers. At every interval, we will have security agents, ambulances and other things in place. The Federal Ministry of Power, Works and Housing has been mandated to work on Abuja-Kaduna road.
“Within this period, we will provide free rail and bus services for passengers. We will provide helicopters for high network individuals.”
Immediate-past chairman of Senate committee on Aviation, Hope Uzodinma urged the Minister to furnish lawmakers with evidence of an integrity survey report. He also asked the Minister to respond to the condemnation of the planned closure by Nigeria Society of Engineers.
In his contribution, Dino Melaye, pointedly told the Minister to halt the plans, noting that the security implications were too enormous. He said it was impossible to repair bad portions of Kaduna road within the period.
The lawmaker said armed robbers and kidnappers were already celebrating, alleging that the lives of passengers who will ply Kaduna-Abuja road will be exposed to danger. – Additional report from BusinessDay.
