The Minister of Aviation, Mrs Stella Odua, has announced that the General Aviation Terminal (GAT) of the Murtala Mohammed International Airport, Lagos will be opened on Monday.
The Minister revealed this at the 6th meeting of the D-8 working group on civil aviation, where she also gave the assurance that all the nation’s airports that are undergoing renovations will soon be commissioned.
The federal government commenced the renovation of major airports to improve the obsolete structures and improve the airports to international standards.
Aviation experts from the group of eight developing countries comprising Nigeria, Bangladesh, Egypt, Turkey, Indonesia, Malaysia, Iran and Pakistan make up the D-8 working group and they met in Abuja on how to share resources and expertise in aviation safety, security and financing.
With a collective population of the D-8 placed at one billion, a strong partnership amongst the group members is expected to open up opportunities for investment and improve service delivery in the aviation sectors of these countries.
Some of the experts suggested that privatization of the airports in Nigeria will be the key to a viable sector
The Minister observed that only five per cent of Nigerians travel by air and just about one-third of cities in the country are serviced by airlines.
But it is not clear as to how this will work bearing in mind the face-off between the federal government and the Bi-Courtney group who sued the government for breach of agreement in the concessioning of the Murtala Mohammed Airport 2 by planning to re-open the General Aviation Terminal.
FAAN on passengers’ safety
Meanwhile, as part of efforts to ensure the safety, security and comfort of all airline passengers, the head of communications and public affairs of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria [FAAN], Mr Yakubu Dati, has also confirmed that the remodeling and reconstruction work going on in some of the nation’s airports will be completed by December, 2012
Speaking to Channels Television in Abuja, Mr Yakubu said the federal government is determined to ensure that the inconveniences being experienced by passengers patronizing the airports are quickly brought to an end in order to attract increased patronage.
He added that new security measures have also been put in place by the Ministry of Aviation to guarantee the security of all passengers.
