Fire-ravaged airport terminal would still have been pulled down – Keyamo

…says all NIMET equipment destroyed by fire

Festus Keyamo, the minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, has said the Murtala Mohammed International Airport (MMIA) Terminal 1 ravaged by fire on Monday would still have been pulled down and refurbished.

The minister also confirmed that several Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NIMET) equipments were destroyed by the fire.

Speaking during the inspection of the charred section of the terminal building on Tuesday, the minister said, “it is not the new terminal that was affected. It is the terminal that we are about to pull down.”

“I won’t say fortunately because there is nothing fortunate about fire. So, even though we are trying to pull down this old terminal, there were certain equipments that we also needed to retrieve.”

Keyamo noted that certain persons also needed to leave the old building for the the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) to start work.

He assured Nigerians that even before this fire, FAAN had already made temporary arrangement to move most of the airlines and entities in the affected space to the temporary place provided by the China Civil Engineering Construction Company (CCECC).

Read also: Airport fire outbreak: Three flights diverted as airspace reopens for operations

He said the fire incident has only helped to hasten the airlines’ move away from the building.

He however, regretted that a lot of the equipments were damaged.

“It is still not safe to go to the 5th, the 6th and the 7th floor. Our NIMET equipment and office are totally gone. Our air traffic controllers were trapped up there yesterday. Many of them had to be rescued by crane.

“So, some of our equipments are damaged. We just want to thank God that there was no single loss of life. That is the first gratitude we have to God. But work will start in earnest to start clearing the rubbles. And then, of course, it will hasten our process of the reconstruction,” the minister said.

He said the CCECC engineers are already on site and are only waiting for people to evacuate the building.

While responding to questions from journalists at the incident scene, Keyamo said victims who were hospitalised are now responding to treatment at a health facility in Lagos.

It will be recalled that a ravaging fire disrupted operations at the old terminal of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos, on Monday and triggered diversions, compounding travel delays.

BusinessDay’s investigation show that at least six persons were hospitalised after the fire outbreak.

He assured the public that flight activities will not be disrupted in any way and a proper hub would be erected in the same space in 22 months.

“Whilst we repair what has been damaged and while we continue to rebuild this place; this place is going to be a proper hub soon. We want to challenge other West African hubs and even African hubs that we can transit passengers without them having to get visas into Nigeria.

“Nigerians will be very proud of what the President has done at the end,” he assured.