Federal Governments missteps and inability to fix the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, or build a second runway long before now will be causing passengers and Nigeria as a whole huge economic losses, especially at a time the country continues to grapple with recession.
For six weeks starting early this morning, all flights to Abuja (Nigeria’s capital) will be diverted to Kaduna while the airport is closed for runway repairs after foreign airlines refused flying there, a situation that will be uncomfortable for air travellers.
Hadi Sirika, minister of state for aviation, has said that the relocation of operations of the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport to Kaduna will cost over N1.1 billion.
Sirika, while briefing the Senate on the logistics implication of the relocation, said the ministry had taken into account relevant agencies that would be deployed to facilitate the relocation, saying the relocation would gulp N1.134 billion.
Of the amount, the Nigerian Railway Corporation is to spend N100,326,400, Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC) N237,247,216.21, while the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) will take up N325,000,000.
A total of N358.5 million was allocated to the Nigerian Police, while the Nigeria Immigration Service is to take N29 million. The ministry is also going to hire buses of the Federal Ministry of Transportation for N84 million, which brings the total figure to N1.134 billion.
Experts have said this would not be the situation if the relevant government agencies had advised the government to build a second runway or have repaired the present runway long before now.
The runway at Abuja Airport was built in 1982, with a 20-year lifespan, and has deteriorated to the extent that it has become a safety hazard and had to be completely overhauled, according to Sirika.
Construction company, Julius Berger Nigeria plc won a contract in 2010 that was then worth about $425 million to build a 4.6-kilometer second runway, but it was cancelled after lawmakers said it was too expensive. It also won the bid to carry out the current repairs at a cost of N5.8 billion ($18.4m), according to Sirika.
“How does the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) explain the absence of periodic maintenance for the nation’s airports’ runways to the extent that airports have to be shut down to carry out repairs on runways as it is currently planned for Abuja, and it was in Port Harcourt?
“What action did NCAA take to review the security programmes of an airline that thrice had cases of stowaway?” John Ojikutu, security expert and the former Commandant of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Lagos, said during an interview with BusinessDay.
The NCAA is responsible for safety of the airports, but they have failed to carry out their responsibility, such that it took the minister of aviation to begin a discussion on the compulsory closure of the airport, Ojikutu said.
“The Abuja runway is bad today because the NCAA did not advise the federal government on the repair of that runway at the right time. It is a shame that the decision to repair the runway was decided by the federal government and not NCAA,” John Osadolor, an aviation expert said.
It will cost passengers a sum of three billion naira as a result of the refusal of foreign airlines to operate to Kaduna airport or even codeshare with domestic airlines to help them drop off passengers in Kaduna airport, BusinessDay’s finding have shown.
According to the National Association of Nigerian Travel Agency (NANTA), international airlines operate six daily flights into Abuja, including Lufthansa, British Airways, Air France KLM, Turkish airline, Egypt Airline and Awa Airline.
In a sign of the logistical challenges ahead, data from Nigeria’s airport authority shows Abuja airport handled 4,859 domestic flights in December compared with the 171 that flew in or out of Kaduna.
On each of the aircraft operated by international airlines, there is an average seat capacity of about 150 to 200 passengers, depending on the aircraft configuration and each airline airlifts an average of 300 to 400 passengers for a return flight.
The six foreign airlines operating into Abuja airlift an average of 1,800 to 2,400 passengers daily.
BusinessDay’s checks show that if foreign airlines drop off passengers in Lagos to board domestic flight to Kaduna or board domestic flights from Kaduna to Lagos, it will cost each passenger an extra N30,000.
This implies that on a daily basis, passengers will pay a sum of N54m to N74m on the Lagos-Kaduna routes. During the six weeks period the airport will be shut down, passengers will spend between N2.268billion and N3.108billion.
However, as at yesterday evening, Workmen were still attempting to finish electrical fittings and lay tiles at a new terminal in northern Nigeria’s Kaduna airport just hours before it takes over the responsibility for handling passengers bound for the capital Abuja.
The cutting of direct flights to Abuja, an important business hub as well as Nigeria’s political nerve centre, raises economic and security concerns. Passengers will take the journey of around 160 km (100 miles) to the capital on guarded buses, along a road where kidnappings have taken place in recent years.
Despite the ongoing work, a flight carrying passengers on Ethiopian Airlines, the only international airline that has said it will use the alternative airport, arrived at the new terminal at 11.30 local time (1030 GMT), said a senior airport official.
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