Minister of state for aviation, Hadi SirikaMinister of State for Aviation, Senator Hadi Sirika, has pleaded with President Muhammadu Buhari to intervene in the $69.3 Million counterpart funding debt on the Kano and Lagos airport terminal.
The minister, who spoke at the commissioning of the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja terminal today by the President, said that his ministry is committed to rounding up the Kano, Lagos project soon as the contractor has gone ahead to implement it as approved.
He said that the contractor recently slowed down the pace of work on the two airport terminals “due to non-payment of $69.3 million counterpart funding by government.
“May I respectfully at this point, request Mr. President’s kind intervention in this regard, please.
Mr. President, during the budget presentation yesterday at the National Assembly, you stated unparallel achievements of this administration that cannot be controverted even by the worst enemy, especially given the circumstance we found ourselves as a nation.
“I am very happy to say that you are walking your talk also in Aviation.”
Senator Sirika that the Kano and Lagos projects represent the phase two in the effort to position Nigeria on top of Africa airport facilities.
He said that for the first time in Nigeria’s history, under President Buhari, Abuja and Lagos Airports were certified by the regulators, in accordance with International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) standards and recommended practices (SARPS), adding that the other Airports will be certified in 2019.
“After 34 years of brazen neglect, Abuja runway became unsafe, threatening lives daily, we shut it down completely and reconstructed it within 6 weeks. Ontime and on budget. For this reason and other improvements, the Airport Council International in October, 2018 awarded NAIA Abuja the most improved in safety in Africa
“Following the selfish ‘killing’ of Nigeria Airways Limited, its workers entitlement was painfully ignored by the Government that committed the crime for a dozen of years. N45Bn was verified by this Government and half was paid immediately and the balance half is in 2019 appropriation as per your directives sir
“PHC International Airport is Commissioned and the domestic is about to be completed. From worst to Best!
• Abuja International Terminal is completed and being commissioned now
• ICAO has designated the FAAN AVSEC training centre in Lagos as the regional Aviation Security Training Centre of excellence for West and Central African region
• Similarly, NCAT Zaria has been designated as the ICAO regional training centre of excellence for Africa and IATA authorised training centre. On the 11th of May 2016 and 12th April 2017 ICAO awarded the college Highest number of training instructors course conducted and Highest number of ICAO courses conducted
• N4.5Bn Fire fighting simulator is being installed at the college as well as a B737 full motion flight simulator
• Calibration aircraft has been procured and will be delivered in February 2019
• Our Meteorological Agency NIMET has been awarded ISO 9001 2015 version by WMO, making Nigeria the only country to achieve this feat in Africa
• We installed LLWAS in several airports in the country….sosoliso
• We retained the FAA Cat1 status, without recourse to foreign consultants
• We scored 96.45% in safety audit conducted by ICAO
• In Nov 2017 we hosted the ICAO world Aviation Forum IWAF 3, the 1st outside Montreal, with over 70 countries in attendance and very many at ministerial level. The theme was ‘financing the development of aviation infrastructure’
• In July 2017 we hosted ICAO RPAS symposium, the attendance was similar to that of IWAF3. This focus on Nigeria by the world Aviation has never been witnessed before the coming of your leadership Mr President
• The contribution to GDP has risen from 0.4% to 0.6%
• This growth is best seen when Q1Q2 2017 is compared to Q1Q2 2018 where domestic operations grew by 33% and International by 13.5%
• The new Civil Aviation act and that of our agencies has been passed by FEC and is now before NASS
• AIB app has been launched and is available on google and apple stores to ease reporting of accidents and incidents
• Safety bulletin has been published for the first time in the history of AIB and as many as 39 final reports have been released
• Nigeria under your leadership attained level 3 out of 4 in areas of state safety programme of ICAO thereby moving from red to green on ICAO’s dash board
• We have developed and published Performance based navigation procedures for 18 airports as well as introduced standard instrument departures and standard arrival routes at LOS, ABV, KN and PHC
• Mr President you approved zero duty on aircraft and spares to assist industry players to provide the needed service and make some decent profit
• We met over $600 million dollars earned revenue unrepatriated by foreign airlines, despite the crunch, however you directed it be paid and it was paid
Before I conclude this remark sir, permit me to report on the 5th stakeholder forum held last month here in Abuja.”
The minister recalled that the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport Terminal is the second in the series of Airport terminals to be commissioned from the projects funded by the China-Exim bank loan of $500 million with a counterpart funding of $100 million from the debt management office.
He said that from political and economic perspectives, the airport is very strategic to Nigeria not only because it is the gateway to the nation’s capital but also because it the second busiest airport in the country and the fastest growing in passenger traffic in West and Central Africa, with an average growth rate of 8 percent, where the world average growth is 5.8 percent.
“The Airport processed 5,709,012 passengers in 2017. This volume equals to about 13 times the total number of passengers recorded by Ghana as a country.
“The terminal building you are about to commission Mr President, has annual passenger capacity of 15m covering a space of approximately 56,000m2. It also has the following facilities as well as capabilities;
• 72 check-in counters
• 5 baggage collection carousels
• 28 immigration desks at arrival and 16 at departure
• 8 security screening points
• 8 passenger boarding bridges
• Walkway to link the FCT metro rail
• Additional apron for remote parking of aircraft
• Linkway to domestic wing
And many other facilities that are properly designed and laid out in accordance with modern requirements for airport operations.
Mr President will recall FEC approval of the second tranche for the funding of the phase two of this project in the sum of $461,795,551.02. The phase takes into cognisance, additional facilities that will enhance airport efficiency. These includes but not limited to
• Construction of additional apron
• Multi-level car park
• Fire station
• Additional boarding bridges
• Connection between the old and the new terminals
• Facility and boarding bridge to accommodate Airbus A380.”
