The Senate Ad-hoc Committee on Aviation has called on the federal government to take a critical look at improving the infrastructural decay at airports across the country especially the Murtala Muhammed Airport (MMA), Lagos and the Nnamdi Azikiwe Airport (NAA), Abuja.
The committee made the call during a facility tour of Lagos Airport, adding that a lot needs to be done in the area of infrastructure for airports in the country to compete favourably with other airports in other climes.
Chairman of the Committee, Senator, Rabiu Kwankwanso, who expressed concern about the state of infrastructure at airports, urged government to prevent the collapse of the infrastructure by making it priority.
According to him, “I can say we are happy on one hand, but on the other hand, we are not happy because a lot still needed to be done in the aviation sector in this country.”
He continued, “We have seen the decaying facilities at the two major airports and those needed to be replaced. We have seen ongoing projects. We will go back and make recommendations to the Senate so that we can move forward from where we are. We started from Abuja Airport where we saw the facilities and at the Lagos Airport too, we have seen several equipment.”
On her part, the former Aviation Minister and a member of the Committee, Senator Stella Oduah, said that the committee would make recommendation to the federal government on the best way to improve revenue drive within the industry via the Minister of Aviation, Senator Hadi Sirika.
According to her, “Ours is to make to write our reports and make recommendations to the government and find out the lapses and gaps in the system,” she said.
Recalled that the committee, commenced its tour of airport facilities from Abuja Airport, continued at the Lagos Airport where it visited the ongoing terminal construction of the international terminal and the Total Radar Coverage of Nigeria, (TRACON).
