Festus Keyamo, SAN, Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, has suspended President Muhammadu Buhari’s immediate-past administration’s contentious Nigeria Air Project and airport concessions.
According to reports, the Nigeria Air project and the concessioning of the Lagos, Abuja, Kano, and Port Harcourt airports have sparked so many problems that aviation experts have advocated for their suspension, claiming they are of no benefit to the sector.
However, on his first visit and tour of the Murtala Muhammed Airport in Lagos, the Aviation Minister said that all plans and arrangements for the projected national airline, Nigeria Air, have been suspended.
In relation to the move of international airlines to the new Lagos terminal, Keyamo stated that the new Lagos terminal had been underutilized because it could not accommodate wide-bodied aircraft, and that the airlines would use the terminal while the government procured large buses to transport passengers.
He also claimed that the old international terminal at Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Lagos will be closed for renovations by October 1, 2023, and that all private hangars such as Dominion Hangar, EAN Hangar, and others would be transferred to make space for the new terminal’s growth.
“The old terminal was the source of the majority of the complaints.” Coming Nigerians find that place an ugly. The elevators are broken. There is no air conditioner and the hallway is uninviting. We have the new terminal, but it is not operational. It was not meant to accommodate large planes, according to Keyamo.
