Minister Explains DelaAy In Runway Lighting Completion

Minister of Aviation, Mrs Fidelia Njeze, has affirmed that the contractor handling the air field lighting system project for the domestic runway of the Murtala Muhammed Airport, Ikeja, Lagos, is ready to mobilise to site for the completion of the project.

Mrs Njeze explained that the possibility of discrupting flights accounts for one of the reasons for the delay in the completion of the runway air field lighting system.

According to her, the volume of flights being carried out at the runway would require a more proactive approach to execute the project without causing undue delays for flights, adding that, the project will require a lot of civil works, which should be carried out with discretion without affecting flights at the domestic wing of the Lagos Airport.

“The problems of air field lighting is what we are trying to solve in all. Hitherto, when runways are being contracted, they award runways differently from air field lighting”, Mrs Njeze explained, pointing out that it is supposed to be a total package of which they are trying to correct.

She said: “if they had installed air field lighting when they awarded all of them at the same time to the same contractor, this issue wouldn’t have been on ground”, noting that they have to be careful because operations are going on.

The aviation minister averred that once the operational issues are concluded, the timeline will not be more than three months since the contractor is already on ground and said that plans are on by government to remodel some airport terminals to deliver globally accepted airport facilities.

She said that the government is coming up in the upgrading of infrastructure as the existing ones have been overstretched, stating, “they are quite obsolete and we are doing everything now and the government is well disposed to us upgrade that with international standard”.

Acknowledging that airports are the gateways to any nation, Njeze noted that government has come to the realization of that and needs to upgrade the infrastructure for everybody coming into Nigeria and for Nigerians and foreigners alike to have the confidence that this country is really turning around.

The aviation boss, who paid an unscheduled visit to the premises of Arik Air, expressed satisfaction with the state of operational facilities at the airline and explained that the government will continue to assist domestic airlines through the financial window of a bail out package, which she said, will assist operators to keep their operations afloat.

“Infact, I am impressed with what I am seeing today, it’s quite encouraging and convincing that in Nigeria, the aviation industry has really, really improved tremendously”, she asserted.