The Senate at its plenary session of Tuesday, January 17, 2017 has rejected the proposal for a total closure of the Airport and urged the Federal Government to consider employing a segmented approach for the repairs of the Airport runway. This came as the chambers resumed briefing on the proposed closure of the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport Abuja which included presentations from Sen. Hadi Sirika, Minister of Minister of State for Aviation; Dr. Babatunde Raji Fashola, Minister of Works, Power and Housing; Engr. Oti Amaechi, President of the Nigerian Society of Engineers (NSE) and Representatives of the Inspector General of Police and Julius Berger PLC. Among others, the Minister of Works, Power and Housing, Dr. Babatunde Raji Fashola gave a concise presentation detailing the role of his Ministry addressing the economic challenges of closing the Airport.
Speaking on the issue, Dr. Fashola explained that the emergency rehabilitation of the Abuja-Kaduna highway would cost N1.05billion and that although the Construction Company, CGC had notified his Ministry of its relocation to Kaduna for the commencement of repairs on the highway, funds were yet to be released to the company. He was also of the view that the closure was necessary and assured the Senate that the Ministries he oversighted and the Ministry of Aviation were committed to delivering an uncompromised standard of safety during the six (6) weeks period of closure.
The Minister of State for Aviation, Sen. Hadi Sirika also used the platform to respond to the concern the Senate raised at an earlier plenary session over the cost implication of relocating flights to Kaduna during the six (6) week period. Sen. Sirika highlighted the proposed cost logistics for the various agencies involved in the relocation of the Abuja Airport to Kaduna as follows:
- Nigerian Police Force(NPF)– N358,517,700
- Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC)- N325,000,000
- Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS)- N29,262,790
- Ministry of Transportation-N84,000,000
- Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC)- N237,247,216
- Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC)- N100,326,400
Total- N1.134billion
However, despite the briefing, the Senate rejected the proposal for a total closure of the Airport based on the recommendation of the President of the NSE who was of the view that the runway could be constructed using a segmented approach and described the closure of the airport as deliberately “shutting down Nigeria”. In particular, Engr. Oti Amaechi recommended that the Ministry of Aviation consider upgrading the taxiway for smaller aircrafts while larger aircrafts could be diverted to Kaduna and also offered the option of constructing a second runway.
