Abuja Airport Runway Of Controversy

 

It was long overdue. The Abuja airport runway was constructed in 1982. It was designed to last for only 20 years. In fact, the runway of the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport (NAIA) actually expired 14 years ago, making it very unsafe for aircraft. On many occasions, aircraft had encountered serious incidents on the sole facility, posing serious danger to lives and equipment.

Every attempt to rehabilitate the existing runway had been met with lack of political will while attempts to build a second one had been fraught with corruption which was detected by the House of Representatives Committee on Aviation which eventually truncated the move. The Abuja airport runway decay is one of the challenges that are a symptom of deep seated malaise in the aviation industry.

Today, the debate across the country is whether the planned closure of Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, should go on or not.

The government plans to reroute all Abuja flights to the Kaduna Airport from March 6 to allow the repair of the Abuja Airport runway to go on for a period of six weeks.

Many citizens and commentators are criticising this plan. Some say that the repairs should not warrant the closure of such an international airport, considering that airports in developed countries have undergone repairs while normal scheduled flights still carried on.

Some other Nigerians are of the opinion that the Kaduna airport is very far from the Federal Capital Territory, and would constitute untold discomfort and security risk to air travellers, thereby discouraging and eventually denying the country revenue from tourism.

They suggested using Minna Airport in nearby Niger State, which is closer. But government is quick to point out that the road to Minna the Niger State capital from Abuja is in a deplorable condition.

On April 7th, 2010, members of the House Committee on Aviation called for the termination of the contract to build a second runway.

The contract was awarded to Julius Berger Nigeria Limited, through selective tendering, at the said sum of N63.5 billion. It was signed by ex-President Goodluck Jonathan, on December 9, 2009, then in his capacity as then Vice President.

Following rejection to build a second runway, the country continued to manage the sole facility with its consequent attendant risks. Experts told Woleshadare.net that the failed facility has reduced the riding quality and safety margin in operating into the airport. The continued deterioration of the facility has made flight operations unsafe; therefore the need to carry out urgent repairs and resurfacing of the existing runway.

During the period of closure, Kaduna International Airport will serve as the alternative. Kaduna airport runway dimension is 3000/45M with runway shoulders of 10.5M; apron size is 400/120M, enough to accommodate six B737 and two B747 aircraft of 500 passenger capacity.

To put the Kaduna airport in proper shape for the flights diversion, the Federal Executive Council (FEC), last week approved N1.1 billion for the repairs of the Kaduna Airport terminal. Explaining the decision, Minister of State for Aviation, Hadi Sirika said that the contract was awarded in 2011 and commenced in 2012.

His words: “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%, it had to go to the then President Goodluck Jonathan for approval anticipation. That was approved and they went to 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.

The cost is up from N500 million plus to N1.1 billion plus. This is just for the terminal building and not the runway. “This elaborate terminal is robust enough to take the passengers for the operation of six weeks. It will not hinder it; it will not stop them also from working.

It may be also a bonus likely if the contractor is able to run through and finish before March, but whether it is finished or not, it will not affect the operations because there are enough buildings to carry out the operations of the airport. “It’s important we inform you guys that whether we shut down now or not, the runway is on its way to shutting down itself.

We’re all witnesses to how Port Harcourt shut itself. The Port Harcourt runway was folding like a mat, it was caving like deep gully erosion and FAAN was busy patching until one night it finally caved in when an Air France plane was landing. It destroyed their landing gear and burst their tyres and after the repairs, the airport was closed for two-and-a-half years until recently. If at the time people were taking appropriate action, probably they would’ve closed the airport for six weeks rather than two years. “So, it’s extremely important when things are bordering on safety, we don’t joke about human lives.

The life of one elite is not more than the life of one downtrodden person, they’re all Nigerians. It’s with great pains that we’ll have to resort to diverting traffic. If it’s a case of where a section of the runway is bad, we wouldn’t have to close the airport, we’d be working at night, close at 10pm and reopen at 6am. But the entire structure of the runway has failed. “The runway was designed to last for 20 years to cater for not more than 100,000 people per annum.

Today, it’s doing over five million persons per annum and has been there for 34 years. So, it’s going for 14 years in excess of design. It’s not a joke; we’re a government and a very sensitive one for that matter. We’d not just cause hardship or distortions to the economy for the sake of it. It’s a very serious matter and for a very good reason,” Sirika said.

It would be recalled that on December 4, 2013, a Saudi Arabian cargo plane damaged its landing gear in a major incident at the Abuja airport runway, which led to the closure of the airport for several hours. This resulted in flight disruption and huge revenue losses for both domestic and international airlines.

In August 2016, there was also another incident involving a South Africa Airways flight that got damaged when it landed on the same Abuja airport runway.

That same year, an Emirates aircraft was also damaged when it landed on the same runway and it was one of the reasons the carrier gave for stopping operation to Abuja airport. Also, other international airlines are considering pulling out of Abuja airport, like Kenya Airways, because of the dangerous runway.

Multiple incidences of landing gear damages have been reported by operators of private jets caused by the poor condition of the runway.

Worried by the risk to lives and property over the situation, the Minister last week conveyed stakeholders’ meeting to inform them of alternative arrangement during the period of the closure of the Abuja airport to enable comprehensive work to be carried out which is expected to last for six weeks beginning from March 8 to April 19, 2017.

This has led to a sharp division among stakeholders who felt that government should not have closed the airport because of a major work. Chairman, Airline Operators of Nigeria (AON), Capt. Noggie Meggison said that AON was in total support of the rehabilitation of the Abuja airport runway which he described as long overdue and had become a safety concern.