FG threatens to shut Abuja airport over safety concerns

Abuja—The Federal Government yesterday dropped hints of closing down Abuja airport as a precautionary measure because of the bad state of the runway.

The Minister of State, Aviation, Senator Hadi Sirika, who dropped the hint at the 2016 Aviation Stakeholders Summit in Abuja, also said the government would concession the Abuja, Lagos, Port Harcourt and Kano international airports in the first phase of its concession programme.

He said that government was committed to upgrading the existing facilities at the airports as well as developing new strategy for repositioning the sector.
Sirika said: “The thinking is that just like every other place in the world, we will concession our airports and we are beginning with the big four, Lagos, Abuja, Port Harcourt and Kano.

“It would have been ideal to take them to some level of acceptance for them to attract more. But I think we just get those guys who believe that in Nigeria they can create a hub geographically given by God.

“To come and put in their money and create this hub, build these airports, concession them, run them and make money out of them.”
He said that the current facilities at the airports did not meet international standards and best practices in the aviation industry, adding that private sector involvement was the way forward.

According to him, if the government is able to concession the four airports successfully in the first phase, it will pay attention to providing infrastructure and developing domestic airports for optimal performance.

Vanguard