Aviation security to carry arms
By Abdullahi M. Gulloma
Abuja
The Federal Executive Council (FEC) has approved the completion of Kaduna terminal building with increased budgetary cost from N500 million to N1.1 billion due to inflation, Minister of State for Aviation, Mr. Hadi Sirika, said yesterday.
The minister told State House correspondents at the end of the council meeting presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari that the contractor had agreed to complete the terminal building within six months.
He similarly hinted that the national carrier which is going to be Public Private Partnership-driven will be back before the end of the year.
“During the rehabilitation of the terminal building, a contractor noticed some structural damages to the building itself and then increased the scope of what to be done to put it to use and that necessitated the variation of contract sum.
“The cost of variation is in excess of 15 percent, it had to go to the then President Goodluck Jonathan for anticipatory approval, that was approved and they went to Bureau for Public Procurement (BPP).
“So, we brought it to council today to ratify and of course taking into cognisance the exchange rate and inflation that has increased the cost of completion of the terminal building from N500 million plus in 2011 to N1.1billion plus today. This is just for the terminal buildings and not the runway,” he said.
Speaking on the possibility of closing the Abuja airport for six weeks and the construction of Kaduna terminal building at the same time without crisis in the aviation sector, the minister said the airport’s runway is in danger of collapsing having exceeded its life span by 14 years.
He said the runway was designed for only 20 years to cater for not more than 100,000 passengers per annum, but it is currently doing over five million passengers per annum, adding that the runway is now in its 34th year after construction.
Sirika assured that the Kaduna airport has an elaborate terminal robust enough to take passengers for the next six weeks.
“It will not hinder it, it will not stop them also from working. It may also be a bonus if the contractor is able to run through and finish the project before March, but whether it finishes or not, it will not affect the operations because there are enough buildings to carry out the operations of the airport,” he said.
On whether the VIPs would be exempted from the closure of the Abuja airport, the minister said: “The airport will be totally closed for six weeks, the construction and rehabilitation works is for six months. Within that six months, there is a window of six weeks that the
airport will be closed.
“It is important we inform you guys that whether we shut down now or not, the runway is on its way to shutting down itself. We are all witnesses to how Port Harcourt runway shut itself. The Port Harcourt runway was folding like mat, it was caving like deep gully erosion and
Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) was busy patching until one night it caved in and Air France landed, it destroyed their landing gear and burst their tyres and after the repairs the airport was closed for two and a half years.”
The minister also told journalists that the president has approved that airport security personnel should carry firearms and other security gadgets as obtainable in other parts of the world.
“We are very serious about aviation security. Just last week, the president approved that aviation security should bear arms, so we are trying to make them take the form and shape of TSA of the US with K-9 dogs, handcuffs, the guards, the batons, light weapons, etc.
“The Minister of Interior is helping us in that regard with the directive of Mr. President. They are partnering with us and other stakeholders to keep our airports secured. All these will be unveiled at the next stakeholders meeting,” he said.
On the establishment of a new national air carrier for the country, the minister said: “When we came in we were very clear on our targets and goals and what we set out to achieve and we did say that Nigeria does need a national airline.
‘The national airline will be one that the government will have no hand in; normally it can have three percent. It will be private sector- led, private sector- driven. Except with the Ethiopian airline, it has been proven that government doesn’t do well with this kind of venture.
“We are going to have a national carrier, it is on course and because it is a PPP thing it has to go through IC and C, and also has to follow all the due process. So it is time consuming but I hope very soon before the end of the year, we will have a very strong viable national airline,” he said.
