FG Plans To Upgrade Facilities At Airports

The Federal Government says it plans to upgrade facilities at major airports in the country just as efforts are geared towards delivering brand new terminals in five locations across the country with the active participation of the private sector.

Speaking with journalists, minister of Aviation, Mrs. Fidelia Njeze, explained that government is determined to deliver state-of-the-art facilities at the airports across the nation including brand new terminals on account of mounting complaints over the parlous state of operational facilities at airports.

Last week, stakeholders in the aviation industry including airlines and passengers raised concerns over the deteriorating state of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos and the Port Harcourt International Airport, Omagwa.

This situation is stirring dissent among service users, who expect higher and efficient services from the aviation operators.

A legal practitioner based in Abuja, Mr. Emeka Okoroafor, who raised concern over the poor condition of the Port Harcourt International Airport, expressed dissatisfaction at the parlous state of the domestic and international wing of the airport as well as the facilities there.

In the same vein, an airline under anonymity raised concerns over the litany of open items that have been fingered concerning operational facilities at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Ikeja Lagos, which he listed to include the congestion of the cargo and domestic apron of both terminals of the Lagos airport, the consequence that may affect the sustenance of the category one attained by the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority of Nigeria (NCAA).

Sources believe the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), may have failed in its bid to fix critical facilities at strategic positions at the airports and things at the airport could not have been better after the power outage that damaged the equipment of many organizations operating there.

Strategic parts of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport and the Port Harcourt International Airport are not well lit, thereby creating room for hoodlums to operate.

From the car park of the presidential wings to those of the general aviation terminals, domestic wing and protocol unit of the airports, the story is the same while the Port Harcourt Airport is over grown with weeds and a home of reptiles and snakes.