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Rebuild Burnt Control Towers, FG Urged
Air traffic controllers
have urged the Federal Government to rebuild the burnt Kaduna and Maiduguri airports control towers as part of measures toward air safety.
The controllers equally advised the Federal Government to urgently tackle the controller/pilot communication system problem at the area control centres in Kano and Lagos airports, which they said had remained a nightmare to both pilots and air traffic controllers.
The controllers voiced their concerns through Mr Eyaru Victor, the President, Nigeria Traffic Controllers Association in Jos on Thursday at the Annual General Meeting of the body.
The Tide source reports that the Kaduna Control Towers got burnt in April 2014, while that of Maiduguri also got burnt few months after and remained in that state since then.
The traffic controllers association president then urged govermnment to declare a state of emergency on the communication problem of the Nigerian airspace to ensure safety and to save the nation from embarrassment.
He said that “the current epileptic communication system is dangerous; we should not wait until something horrible happens before we see the need to so do something urgent.”
He added that the Abuja runway had become a national embarrassment and declared that “very urgent attention” be given it.
“Government must do something now to allow Duty Traffic Controllers have a 360 degree view of the maneuvering areas from the control towers,” he said.
He also asked government to repair the abandoned Central Taxiway and lightings on the runway of the Murtala Mohammed International Airport, Lagos, and also improve the internal transportation system of the airport.