The Federal Government has said it would demolish structures obstructing the expansion of the Murtala Muhammed Airport, Lagos including hangers as part of efforts to achieve optimal utilisation of the new international status of the airport.

Hadi Sirika, the aviation minister said in the next few weeks, it would remove the Dominion and Evergreen hangars valued at over $ 300 million to create space for the construction of aircraft parks at the new international terminal of the country’s premier airport.

Sirika stated this while inaugurating 10 super-structure firefighting trucks valued at over N12 billion at the Lagos Airport.

Sirika said the government had to take the hard decision in the public interest to guarantee full utilisation of the new international airport terminals.

Read also: AMCON to appeal court judgement on Arik, says airline still under receivership

He said the existence of the two hangars is preventing enough room for the expansion of the new terminal apron.

Related News

Sirika, who commissioned the trucks at the weekend said they would be deployed by officers of the Fire and Safety department of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN).

He said the President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration prioritises safety, hence the efforts made at procuring them even after 15 years of abandonment.

“We are talking about the improvement of safety by the Buhari administration by supplying rover N12 billion safety equipment, fire trucks to tend to safety.

“It was lack of this equipment that contributed to the death of 60 children of Loyola Jesuit school at Port-Harcourt and it’s part of the many reasons we close an airport,” he said.

The trucks are to be deployed to Lagos, Abuja and Kano airports.

Ifeoma Okeke-Korieocha is the Aviation Correspondent at BusinessDay Media Limited, publishers of BusinessDay Newspapers. She is also the Deputy Editor, BusinessDay Weekender Magazine, the Saturday Weekend edition of BusinessDay. She holds a BSC in Mass Communication from the prestigious University of Nigeria, Nsukka and a Masters degree in Marketing at the University of Lagos. As the lead writer on the aviation desk, Ifeoma is responsible and in charge of the three weekly aviation and travel pages in BusinessDay and BDSunday. She also overseas and edits all pages of BusinessDay Saturday Weekender. She has written various investigative, features and news stories in aviation and business related issues and has been severally nominated for award in the category of Aviation Writer of the Year by the Nigeria Media Nite-Out awards; one of the Nigeria’s most prestigious media awards ceremonies. Ifeoma is a one-time winner of the prestigious Nigeria Media Merit Award under the 'Aviation Writer of the Year' Category. She is the 2025 Eloy Award winner under the Print Media Journalist category. She has undergone several journalism trainings by various prestigious organisations. Ifeoma is also a fellow of the Female Reporters Leadership Fellowship of the Wole Soyinka Centre for Investigative Journalism.

Join BusinessDay whatsapp Channel, to stay up to date

Open In Whatsapp