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