February 01, (THEWILL) – The Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo (SAN), says Nigeria Airports including the top five international airports, have no masterplan.
Speaking on Wednesday, when he featured on Channels Television’s ‘Politics Today’, Keyamo said without a comprehensive masterplan, the airports cannot operate efficiently and effectively.
According to the Minister, the major problem of the aviation industry in Nigeria is this lack of Masterplan for its Airports including the Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Lagos, Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport in Abuja, Port Harcourt International Airport, Mallam Aminu Kano International Airport in Kano and Akanu Ibiam International Airport in Enugu.
“The moment I came into office, the first thing I asked all of them, the technocrats and bureaucrats. I asked where the masterplans for our airports are, especially the five international airports.
“How can you build infrastructure in the world without a plan? Whether house, whether road or anything, you must have an approved plan. I did not meet any masterplan on the ground in the entire Nigeria for all the five international airports and I asked them what they’ve been doing?
“The lack of a masterplan for our top airports is a major setback for our aviation industry. It prevents us from maximising the potential of these airports and offering world-class services to travellers”, he said.
Lamenting the poor state of infrastructures in the airports, Keyamo disclosed that a total N40 billion has been earmarked to rehabilitate airports across the country.
“We have decided to take some pre-emptive steps to say, look, we need to upgrade our equipment because the first Ibadan incident was that the aircraft landed before the runway. Could it be navigational problems?
“Don’t forget that the last time we upgraded our equipment was when those series of accidents happened, I think under Obasanjo and there was a whole lots of stakeholders meeting and so there was a lot of procurements at that time in the aviation sector in terms of navigation equipment and all of that.
“But, after that technology has improved a lot across the across the world, and I have just gone to a few places across the world in Europe especially, and we think there is a need to upgrade our equipment to meet modern standards and some have been done, some are being done.
“We are specifically looking at upgrading the total radar coverage of Nigeria and so we are embarking on that. We are also procuring equipment: landing equipment, navigation equipment, upgrading the ones that we had before. There is this ILS that we’re trying to procure, the modern ones for the five international airports and some other airports.
“Now, these equipment they guide aircrafts, even in very difficult circumstance, even in his hazy weather they are the ones who guide the approach and landing of aircrafts, even if the pilot is blind but these are very technical exams that can help you land.
“I wrote to Mr President to say Look, Mr President, beyond the envelope system of the budget, please can we have urgent intervention regarding this very critical equipment. I called all the stakeholders together: NAMA, NCAA and NSIB.
“We all looked at it; we put it to the President and he immediately directed that the Minister of Finance should look into it and see how we can quickly raise funds for this and they are in the process of doing that right now. We’re processing it. We propose about N40 billion for all the airports.”
Keyamo also disclosed that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), is investigating the controversial Nigeria Air deal by the federal government during the tenure of his predecessor, Hadi Sirika.
According to the Minister, the deal appears not to be transparent and one that gives great advantage to Ethiopian Airlines to masquerade as setting up a national airline for the country.
Noting that the deal lacked transparency, Keyamo said, “It was not a deal that was good for Nigeria. It was a good concept to have a national carrier but it was not a good deal for Nigeria.
“EFCC investigation is ongoing so people who don’t know, should know. There is a criminal investigation going on. That is the honest truth. I don’t know those who are involved or who are not involved. I’ve called for reports as a minister so they should give me a printed report.
“The EFCC is investigating the deal to know whether Nigerians were shortchanged. I don’t want to preempt their investigation. The whole composition and the totality of that deal was merely Ethiopian Airlines flying Nigeria Air. It was a foreign airline trying to fly the Nigerian flag.”
Hinting on the plan of the President Bola Tinubu-led government to float an entirely different national carrier, which will not involve the domestic airlines participation, Keyamo said, “We will establish a proper national carrier”, adding that no local airline would be designated as the national carrier.
His words: “I will push for one (national carrier) and I’m working on one and guess what? Let me say this publicly now. No local airline will be a flag carrier or national carrier.
“So, whoever thinks I’m working to promote one to be a national flag carrier, I’m saying it as a matter of policy, it will be unfair to all the local operators, no local airline will be designated as a flag carrier. I will not do it.
“We will establish a proper national carrier and people are talking to us about it. The Arabs are talking to us, the Chinese are talking to us, the Americans are talking to us on these already.”
