Minister of Transport, Rotimi Amaechi disclosed that the possibility of delaying repair works at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja may become dangerous due to latest development in the aviation sector.
He revealed that already an aircraft belonging to Lufthansa had been grounded for the past three days in Abuja, owing to gear problem, instigated by the bad runway at the airport.
He made the disclosure at the Second Presidential Business Forum, a platform to engage and interact with the private sector to keep them abreast with government’s policies, programmes and activities, presided over by Acting President Yemi Osinbajo.
He made the disclosure while responding to the concerns of the negative impact of the closure of the airport by the President of Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN), Frank Udenba-Jacobs, who made a presentation on behalf of the Organised Private Sector (OPS).
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He said that the airport has outlived its 20 years live-span and is now 34 years, adding that the work to be done was not repairs but complete re-building of the airport.
He said the entire architecture of the runway from bottom to top had collapsed, insisting it was totally unsafe to continue to use the runway, adding that the work could not only be done at night.
He said, “We are not going back on closure of Abuja airport. I understand that Lufthansa landed and damaged their gear and have been here for three days.
“The runaway was built to last for 20 years but it has been in use now for 34 years. We cannot do it only at night. We do not want to lose anybody. We are not repairing but rebuilding. If anything happens you will ask us to resign and we don’t want to resign.”
The closure of the airport would only last for six weeks while repairs of the 3,600 metres runway would take six months, Senator Hadi Serika, the Minister of State for Aviation, had said when he appeared before the Senate earlier in the year.
Government was also fast tracking repair works at the Kaduna Airport, which would be used as an alternative when the Abuja Airport would be closed to flight activities later in the year.
