*Hints of concession of Abuja, Lagos, Port Harcourt, Kano airports
The Minister of State for Aviation, Senator Hadi Sirika, says the state of the Abuja airport runway is a source of concern for the government and that the airport could be closed down as a form of safety precaution.
Sirika said this today at the 2016 Aviation Stakeholders Forum on Monday in Abuja.
The minister, a former pilot, did not give details of the state of Abuja airport runway.
He however said that government was committed to upgrading the existing facilities at all airports as well as developing new strategy to repositioning the sector.
Sirika also announced government plans to concession the Abuja, Lagos, Port Harcourt and Kano international airports in the first phase of its concession programme.
“The thinking is that just like every other place in the world, we will concession our airports and we are beginning with the big four, Lagos, Abuja, Port Harcourt and Kano.
“It would have been ideal to take them to some level of acceptance for them to attract more.
“But I think we just get those guys who believe that in Nigeria they can create a hub geographically given by God.
“To come and put in their money and create this hub, build these
airports, concession them, run them and make money out of them.’’
He said that the current facilities at the airports did not meet international standard and best practices in the aviation industry, adding that private sector involvement was the way forward.
According to him, if the government is able to concession the four airports successfully in the first phase, it will pay attention to providing infrastructure and developing domestic airports for optimal performance.
He said that government was committed to upgrading the existing facilities at the airports as well as developing new strategy to repositioning the sector.
The minister also stated that a comprehensive security check and
vulnerability assessment of the airports had been carried out to
ensure that airports were properly secured.
According to him, every huge major disaster in the world such as the
Pearl Habour attack, Sept. 11 attack on the U.S. among others, are
aviation related disasters.
“Safety is the main focus in aviation because, the time a passenger
arrives airport, when he takes off and land is very important.
“We are developing a new security strategy in partnership with international security organisations and procurement of modern equipment.’’