The Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo, has emphasized the urgent need to invest N81 billion in order to complete the construction of Abuja’s second runway.
Keyamo said the additional runway is crucial to meet the growing demands of air traffic and enhance the safety and efficiency of operations at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport.
This was as he disclosed that President Tinubu has approved the purchase of screening machines for the five international airports in the country.
Keyamo made the demand when he met with the 10th Assembly joint committee on aviation technology for the 2024 Ministry of Aviation budget defence, earlier today in Abuja.
Putting the performance of the 2023 budget at 40 percent based on the releases so far, and the 2024 budget for the entire Ministry and its Agencies at Sixty-three Billion, Keyamo said that critical projects such as Abuja 2nd runway, upgrade and rehabilitation of the old terminal of Lagos airport were vital projects that need urgent attention.
Affirming his five focus areas for the industry, the minister said there is a need to ensure strict compliance with safety regulations and continuous upward movement of Nigeria’s rating by ICAO.
He called for support for the growth and sustenance of local airline businesses while holding them to the highest international standards in the aviation industry.
He stressed the need for improvement of infrastructure in the aviation industry, adding the development of human capacity within the industry would form a top priority.
Speaking further, Keyamo appealed to the 10th Assembly joint committee for the procurement of consultancy for the design of a master plan for major airports in Nigeria, stating the need to give more attention to the area of safety with the procurement of equipment.
Keyamo also assured that a list of airlines that delayed or cancelled flights would be published in the media on a weekly basis as part of the compensation scheme.
He said, “I have called the customer’s satisfactory commission regarding the treatment of Nigerians. In fact, I have gone back to the committee, that is how much concern I am concerned.
“And I have said at the last address that I gave during our stakeholders meeting in Lagos and our retreat in Warri. I said on a weekly basis, please publish the list of airlines that they do not fly as at when due, cancelled flights, delayed flights, how many hours it was delayed, was there compensation, and actions they took as regulators against these airlines. We are starting that in January.”
The aviation Minister also proposed that a discount should be deducted from the flight tickets of airlines that delayed passengers as part of the compensation.
“For every delay, there is a report, an actual report by the regulator, what did they do? Did they pay compensation? And if they didn’t pay compensation we have said that the other way to get compensation if they can return cash is that once the passenger is buying the next ticket it must be given a rebate. That passenger must be given a 50 per cent rebate or 40 per cent rebate because they must be a rebate”.
Moreover, Keyamo said that the best option to develop Nigerian airports was through concessions to investors.
“Private Partnership must come to the fore. It is not even negotiable, we don’t have the funds to do so.
“In concession, we will give the people what we want, not what they want. We have to decide what we want. It is the nature, the quality of the concession that all of us will agree on.
“We want to go ahead but I want every one of us to sit down, and look for the best hands, we should go to the end of this world to look for the best and the best thing for Nigeria and raise our offer to tier one, not tier two. Tier one investors to come to Nigeria and build our gateway for us”.
He informed the committee that he has written a memo to President Tinubu for a quality concession process for the Lagos, Kano, Abuja, Port Harcourt, and Enugu airport.
Credit: The Nigeria Lawyer