Tinubu to Commission Second NAIA Runway in 12 months, Says Keyamo… Assures Air passengers of improved services
Oru Leonard
The Minster for Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo has disclosed that the runway which is billed to be completed in the next 12 months, would be commissioned by President Bola Tinubu.
The Minister who mentioned this while addressing Journalists after inspection of the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport (NAIA), said payment of compensation to land owners has started and the contractors will move to site next week. “The contractor, CCECC had assured that they will move to site by next week as some of the the indigenes have started relocating”, he informed.
He assured air Passengers of improved services and comfort in Nigerian airports as identified chillers, elevators and conveyor belts as priority areas.
“On a visit to most of our airports, those are the problems we are facing. Even with this new facility, I understand only four of the ten chillers are working. Now, what is the immediate solution? I have told them that my mentality to some of these things is that for example, most of those lifts that are obsolete instead of fixing them and fixing them, you know, every two months they will bring a bill to fix them and by the time you fix three times you are already almost buying a new one. I told them to get rid of them. Let us buy high-quality lifts to promote a new brand here.
“The ones I saw here are not good enough. I know about lifts; they’re not good enough. So, I will not be here and for them to go and buy substandard lifts again, the ones that can take high traffic and we see them all over the world lifts are not what you just buy locally. There are good brands all over the world.
“So I’ve told them to get rid of these lifts. I won’t spend the money repairing them every two months. That’s my attitude towards let’s be patient, rush through emergency procedures for procurement, and buy good lifts for Nigerians to enjoy the arrival and good brands.
“Now, but beyond that we should also have a maintenance culture. If I’m we cannot maintain these things internally because these things are more like consumables in quotes. You know, I’m using that word advisedly in quotes because they are things you almost use almost every day and you see every day and they are the optics that people see. Let us get people who can maintain them and we can hold them responsible” Keyamo said
On halting of the Nigerian air project based the Minister reiterated that it was based on red flags raised by some aviation agencies, individuals and other interested parties also raised red flags on the projects. concerning the process as well as the outcry of Nigerians.
