Keyamo Suspends Air Nigeria Project, Orders Closure of MMIA Terminal With Effect From Oct. 1

The Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo has ordered the suspension of the Nigeria Air project and the concession project, stressing that he owes it to the government and Nigerians to give an honest review.

He stated that the concession and national carrier will be placed on hold until he briefs President Bola Tinubu. It's now directed that Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA) will close down for repairs on October 1.

He further directed that all international airlines vacate Murtala Muhammed International Airport starting from October 1, which is Nigeria's Independence Day celebration.

He made this announcement on Thursday during a tour at the international airports in Lagos where he was also accompanied by Kabir Yusuf Mohammed, MD, the Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria, FAAN.

While speaking, he said that all airlines and companies operating in the airport should move to the new terminal which is MMIA Terminal Two.

Vanguard recorded his statement,

• The major complaints of Nigerians or foreigners coming into the country have been with this old terminal.  That place is an eyesore. The lifts are not working, the entrance is unwelcoming.

• Airconditioning systems are not effective, among other things, and we have this new terminal that the Chinese built which is under utilised.

• Although, there have been lots of questions as to why the new terminal is not being utilised optimally, the simple reason is that the new terminal was designed without provision to take big planes. I wondered why that happened.

• I have been asking questions as to how they would design an international gateway such as the Lagos airport terminal two without a provision to take the big planes.

• We do not have the avio bridges that can even connect with big planes, which is also a challenge. That has been the problem we have not been using this new terminal.

• It would interest you that,  60 per cent of FAAN’s revenue comes in from the Lagos gateway. It is one of the major gateways in the country.

• So what is the solution to this? I have said we must use what we have for now. I have told them that I am giving the international airlines, and every other company utilising the facility till October 1, 2023, to move from the old terminal to terminal 2.

• What we are going to do temporarily is to shut down the old terminal and sort out all the issues regarding the renovation.

• So like many other countries, we are going to do emergency procurement to buy the big buses and move them to where the big planes stop in an orderly fashion, both arrival and departure so that you can have some kind of comfort with this new facility.

• The long-term plan is that we are going to find a way to build avio bridges for the big bodies coming in.

• There were issues already on the ground, before I came in, like concessions, and Nigeria Air, among others, all of that, for now, has been suspended until I brief Mr President as to what is happening regarding all of those noises.

• I always appreciate his honesty. He brought me here to correctly advise him, so I’m looking at all the agreements and everything that was signed to correctly inform him.

• I owe my total loyalty to Nigerians to have the best of aviation services and to Mr. President, and that’s what we are doing.

• Some of those private terminals, those private hangers, have to go for public purpose. We will relocate them, so we can have a functional beautiful gateway to Nigerians.

• The main reason we are yet to utilize the 18R/36L is the absence of light leading to the runway.  It’s pathetic that security operatives are around yet these facilities are taken. There should be an in-house person involved in this arrangement.

• These lights cannot be sold in ordinary markets. Who are the buyers? Well, we are going to provide logistics to FAAN to enable them to bring the lighting meant for Kano airport to Lagos since we already have an emergency here.