In December, 2016 alone the facility handled about 5000 domestic flights justifying its rating as the second busiest airport in the country after the Murtala Muhammed Airport (MMA) in Lagos. Completed in 2000 and officially opened for operations in 2002, the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, recorded a growth in passenger movement at the facility from 2, 126, 645 in 2005 to 4, 341, 637 in 2015. Yet, this critical facility’s runway, designed and built to last for 20 years had, before the advent of the President Muhammadu Buhari administration, functioned for 35 years without undergoing the requisite periodic, comprehensive maintenance. It was thus inevitable that critical portions of the runway had completely failed constituting a danger to flight and passenger safety and necessitating its closure for six weeks from March 8 this year to enable far reaching repairs and upgrade.
Of course, it would have been easier and more convenient to assume that since no major air mishap had ever occurred at the airport, luck would continue to smile on the facility and all would always be well. Unfortunately, as several air crashes in the nation’s aviation history has shown, once an ordinarily avoidable air fatality is allowed to occur through complacency, neglect or carelessness, the consequences are eternally irreversible. It would also have been perhaps more preferable and popular with the flying public if the airport had been allowed to continue to function normally while necessary repairs were carried out piecemeal possibly at night. The federal aviation authorities however deserve commendation for firmly standing by the decision to completely shut down the airport for the stipulated period while preparing the Kaduna Airport as an effective although admittedly inconvenient alternation for the duration of the Abuja airport repairs.
As the Minister of State for Aviation, Senator Hadi Sirika, rightly said at the time in reaction to popular opposition to the closure of the airport, “The total architecture of the runway failed touching on the safety component of our operations which we cannot negotiate. So we better stay safe than do something stupid. We decided to close down the airport and make a total rehabilitation of the runway itself in the interest of safety”. Apart from the distance of about 200km between Kaduna and Abuja and the rampant incidence of criminality on the road, most people were pessimistic as regards the possibility of the six-week deadline being met for the reopening of the Abuja facility. This was a reflection of a chronic and largely justifiable lack of confidence in the ability of public authorities in Nigeria to meet set objectives within specified timelines.
To the surprise of all, however, work on the Abuja airport was completed ahead of schedule and the facility was opened for use a day before it was formally expected to resume operations on April 18. The new Abuja airport runway was reconstructed using new technology such as glass glide for the first time in the country to reinforce its durability and prevent surface cracks. Apart from the runway, other facilities have either being newly provided or upgraded at the facility to meet the global protocol on standard and best practices set by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO). Lift and escalators for the aged and physically challenged persons have been provided at the departure hall of Terminal B. A new terminal, the D wing, which had long been abandoned has been rehabilitated, equipped and put in use complete with its own fingers for flight boarding. The local B wing and the international C wing have been given a comprehensive face-lift including the overhauling of their air conditioning systems and provision of new toilets, VIP lounges and other ancillary facilities.
However, the cost of allowing the Abuja airport runway to deteriorate over the years due to lack of maintenance was the expenditure of another N3.2 billion on the preparation of the Kaduna Airport to serve as an alternative. But this has luckily not been a waste after all. For, the Kaduna Airport has now been substantially upgraded and now enjoys an expanded and improved runway, enhanced fire cover, more efficient instrument landing system, improved air space services and weather reports, the repair of its Voice Omni-directional Radio Range (VOR) and other navigational aids and the completion of a previously abandoned passenger terminal.
In order to ensure that the Kaduna Airport does not lapse into disuse thus frittering away these gains, it would certainly be wise for the aviation authorities to commit additional funds to further modernization of the facility. The experience of the last six weeks has shown that Kaduna can be a viable aviation route if the necessary facilities and conditions are made available. The new Kaduna-Abuja train line, started by the preceding Jonathan administration and completed by this government, improvement on the road between the two cities, provision of free shuttle bus service and the maintenance of tight security facilitated the smooth and safe movement of arrivals at Kaduna Airport to Abuja.
The cooperation and harmonious operations of the Ministries of Transport; Power, Works and Housing; the Kaduna State government and Julius Berger Plc, which made the completion and reopening of the project ahead of schedule possible is laudable. Surely, the more we have of this kind of inter-governmental and inter-agency rapport rather than the needless conflict, rivalry and turf wars that has been a huge distraction to the Buhari administration, the more effective and productive use will be made of what remains of its tenure.
President Buhari has expressed his appreciation to the Ethiopian government for that country’s extraordinary cooperation with Nigeria during the period that the Abuja airport was closed. Unlike most other International carriers that refused to fly to Kaduna, Ethiopian Airlines was reportedly the first to land an aircraft at the Kaduna airport on the very day the Abuja airport was closed and consistently maintained its operation on the route for the stipulated six weeks. The Airline’s Airbus A350 was also the first to land at the repaired Abuja runway on the very day it reopened. This is certainly an inspiring indication of the immense possibilities of inter-African cooperation if the political will and commitment can be mustered.
Given the over N400 billion reportedly expended by the Dr Goodluck Jonathan administration on the expansion and modernization of 17 domestic and five international airports across the country, including a $1 billion Chinese loan for the same purpose, it is amazing that most of our airports are in the state they are today. Yet, rather than continue to whine and moan over the mess inherited, the aviation authorities simply went ahead to do what they had to do to enhance the operational safety of the Abuja airport. This is the kind of spirit Nigerians expect to see from the Buhari administration in the days ahead.
Federal University, Oye Ekiti shows the light
As a young member of the Editorial Board of the defunct Daily Times in the mid eighties, I benefitted enormously from the presence of the then Dr. Kayode Soremekun as a visiting member of the Board.
The political scientist, international relations expert and specialist in the national and global politics of oil was then on sabbatical from the University of Ife (now Obafemi Awolowo University). His contributions on the board were radical, enlightening, uncompromising, irreverent and penetrating. One of the articles I remember him writing for the Daily Times was titled ‘Nigeria and the Pertamina affair’ in which he likened the opacity and corruption that characterized the management of Nigeria’s oil sector under the Babangida regime to that of Indonesia’s graft ridden state owned Pertermina oil corporation. In another piece, titled ‘Bitter Life’, he descended heavily on the then flamboyant First Lady, the late Mrs Maryam Babangida’s Better Life for Rural Women pet project describing it as of little relevance to the lives of millions of poverty stricken Nigerian women. It certainly took great courage to write such articles under military rule and on the platform of a paper like the Daily Times.
At the inception of the Buhari administration, Professor Kayode Soremekun was appointed Vice Chancellor of Federal University, Oye Ekiti (FUOYE). I am not surprised at the choice of three eminent Nigerians who will on Saturday, 29th of this month be conferred with honorary degrees by the university. They are a centenarian and retired principal of Ekiti Parapo College, Ido-Ekiti, Chief Adepoju Akomolafe; 89-year-old retired principal of Christ’s School, Ado Ekiti, Chief Francis Daramola and the first indigenous principal of Queen’s College, Lagos, Efunjoke Coker. They will be conferred with honorary Doctor of Educational Administration in recognition of their contributions to education, scholarship and manpower development in Nigeria. Justifying the decision at a pre-convocation briefing, Professor Soremekun submitted that honorary degrees should not be reserved exclusively for politicians and moneybags arguing that “The gesture is to remember these great Nigerians, who contributed to scholarship. It is sad that we are all suffering from amnesia which makes us forget people so easily. With this, we will be setting a new moral standard for society”. Surely, FUOYE is commendably showing the light for others to find the way.
