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The Ministry of Aviation has commenced a “total remodelling” of the five major airports in the country.

According to the
ministry, the development, which is part of measures to address the
level of infrastructural decay across Nigerian airports, is also aimed
at repositioning and refocusing the aviation sector in the country for
better performance, considering the critical role the industry plays in
the economy of the nation. “With Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria
(FAAN) in the driving seat, we are embarking on aggressive airports
infrastructural development and remodelling,” said Fidelia Njeze,
minister of aviation, over the weekend during the commissioning of the
newly acquired TBM850 training aircraft for the Nigerian College of
Aviation Technology (NCAT), Zaria.

Reacting to public outcry

Explaining that the
remodelling of the airports became imperative following plights of
passengers and “excessive reporting” of the dilapidated structures
inherent across Nigerian airports by journalists, Mrs. Njeze promised
that the federal government will endeavour to complete the exercise
within two years. “As part of the remodelling and general
refurbishment, you would agree with me that when you enter the check-in
hall at the Murtala Mohammed International Airport recently, you would
have noticed appreciable change in the temperature of the lounge, and
this is because the existing air conditioning system has been repaired
and additional units procured to alleviate the troubles of travellers.

“The remodelling
designs for five airports namely, Lagos, Abuja, Port Harcourt, Kano and
Enugu have been completed and these projects will be concluded in the
next 12 to 24 months,” she said. The ministry’s helmsman disclosed that
the government will invite the public to come see the model of the
airports after making an official presentation to the president in due
course, adding that the all forms of power interruptions across
international airports in the country are currently addressed.

“With the designs out, we have written to the president to come and
do a presentation, and after this the block model and video of the
design will be brought to the public for display in the major airports
for people to see what we are doing as pertaining the remodelling,” she
said, adding “with this initiative, power outage at MMIA will be a
thing of the past as we have commenced the process of replacing the six
old obsolete generators and transformers, and provide redundancies that
will serve as backup when there is system failure.” It could be
recalled that on May 9, there was a complete blackout at the Lagos
international airport for over four hours, which totally crumbled
flight operations at the airport leaving hundreds of passengers
stranded, a situation described by experts as “disgraceful, pathetic
and unprofessional.”