By Francisca Ogar.
The Federal Government will on Wednesday at the Federal Executive Council meeting discuss the concession of airports in Nigeria to facilitate upgrade to meet global standards.
The Minister of State for Aviation, Hadi Sirika made this known during a joint inspection tour with the Minister of Information,Alhaji Lai Mohammed at the Kaduna International airport.
While fielding questions from journalists, the Minister for information and culture Alhaji Lai Mohammed , lamented the hardship the closure of the Nnamdi Azikiwe airport Abuja has caused Nigerians, emphasizing that there is” no alternative” since the runway has failed completely.
The Minister of State for Aviation on his part gave assurance that the perimeter fencing has been completed as well as the instrument landing system and the runway marking to make landing at night safe.
Hadi Sirika further said Government has kept its promise of providing two economy class coaches to convey passengers to and from Kaduna as well as luxury buses for free along side adequate security .He also disclosed that” plans are underway to build a second runway in Abuja” as soon as possible.
The Minister said efforts are being made to get direct flights from Kaduna to London using indigenous entrepreneurs. This is to compliment the only foreign airline currently operating in Kaduna, Ethiopian airlines which as at Tuesday had all its seats sold out.
When asked if the close down of Abuja airport will last beyond six weeks, Sirika informed journalists that a count down clock would be installed shortly at strategic locations in the airport to remind the contractor the stop date of the shutdown.
According to the Minister of State for Aviation, the runway at Nnamdi Azikiwe international airport” failed at several points and failed the integrity test ” ruling out the possibility of maintenance at night.
The Abuja Airport was shutdown on the 8th of March for total rehabilitation of the runway, but will be reopened six weeks after though the total period for the reconstruction is six months.