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Year Of Infrastructural Development

The year 2013 is particularly significant, considering that it is the year  most of the physical infrastructure that provide a concrete evidence of the growing success of the transformation agenda of the president Goodluck Jonathan’s administration in the aviation sector were put in place.
The agenda has been tall and tough. Re-modelling of  22 airports – almost at once! Yes, because it seems the government is in a hurry to reverse the inertia, the waffling and the lack of focus of the past.


Commissioning of remodelled terminals
So far, five of these remodelled airports have been commissioned – Domestic Terminal (MMA), Benin Airport, Akanu Ibiam International Airport, Enugu, Mallam Aminu Kanto International Airport, Kano, and the new General Aviation Terminal at Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja.
The remaining terminals are at various stages of completion.

Turkey Airlines begins flight to Kano
On December 13, 2013, at exactly 3.00am local time, the inaugural flight of Turkish Airlines from Mallam Aminu Kano International Airport, Kano, departed to Istanbul en-route Ndijamena with 105 passengers on board, debunking earlier insinuations that the federal government was frustrating efforts to bring in more foreign airlines to Mallam Aminu Kano Airport. Such insinuations may have explained the excitement and delight of the  Minister of Aviation, Princess Stella Oduah at the start of flight operations by Turkish Airlines in Kano.
Represented at the inaugural flight ceremony by the Commissioner of the AIB, Capt. Usman Muktar, she described the commencement of Turkish Airlines’ flight at the Mallam Aminu Kano Airport as another milestone in President Goodluck Jonathan’s Transformation Agenda in the aviation industry.
Earlier at the ceremony, Governor Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso had received the Vice President of Turkish Airlines who was on board the inaugural flight when it arrived from Istanbul.
On May 18, 2013, President Jonathan commissioned the remodelled terminal of the Akanu Ibiam International Airport and also laid the foundation stone of a new international terminal there, one of such five terminals to be built in Lagos, Kano, Abuja and Port Harcourt, under a Memorandum of Understanding between the Nigerian and Chinese governments.

Ethiopian Airline starts flight operation to South East
Again, on August 24, 2013, a historic first international flight, an Ethiopian Airline flight, took off from that airport for Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, the first direct flight from the South East of Nigeria to the rest of the world since the end of the Nigerian Civil War, over 40 years ago.
High ranking government officials including the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Senator Pius Anyim, Deputy Senate President, Ike Ikweremadu, governors of Abia, Theodore Orji, Enugu Sullivan Chime, Anambra Peter Obi, Minister of Aviation, Princess Stella Oduah, Minister of Finance, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala and Minister of Power, Professor Chinedu Nebo, – all witnessed the historic occasion.
October 29, 2013 was another historic day when the Nigerian government signed the Bilateral Air Services Agreement (BASA) with the State of Israel, in Tel Aviv. The agreement would, for the first time in decades, open the route for direct flights between Nigeria and Israel.

Direct flight to Oman
Also, the aviation ministry had earlier approved direct flights to Oman, the Jordanian capital when it granted licence to the Royal Jordanian Airlines to operate that route during the year.  The aviation ministry also vigorously tackled the loss of government revenue in the sector. All revenue points in the agencies have now been automated, leading to increased revenue profiles.

End of poor concession agreements
The drain pipe concessions, especially in FAAN, were legally terminated and the Authority re-engineered through structural changes that have encouraged professionalism and quality service delivery at all our airports.

New cargo directorate
A new directorate of cargo development has been created in FAAN to fully exploit the rich potential Nigeria has in air cargo transport business, one area where Nigeria has been missing for several years. The ministry has begun to construct wholly new air cargo facilities at designated airports around the country.
These include Enugu, Port Harcourt, Kano and Lagos Airports. The establishment of an advertisement department for the first time in the history of FAAN is meant to ensure that the prime outdoor advert locations within the airport corridors are properly managed so that the Authority can get the appropriate revenue from advertisements at the country’s airports which are prime advert areas the world over.

Five new terminals underway
During President Goodluck Jonathan’s state visit to the Republic of China in July, 2013, he signed several bilateral trade and business agreements with the Chinese Government worth about $5billion dollars, a major highlight of which was the agreement for the construction of five new international airport terminals at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Lagos, Kano, Abuja, Port Harcourt and Enugu by the Chinese state-owned construction corporation, CECC. The new terminals in Lagos and Abuja are expected to be completed next year, 2014.

ICAO ranks Nigeria high on safety
During the year, the International Civil Aviation Organisation(ICAO) also listed Nigeria as one of the 14 countries in Africa that have achieved  high and effective level of air safety implementation which is above the global average of 61 per cent. The Ministry of Aviation has also been tackling seriously the issue of infrastructure deficit at the country’s airports.
In September, 2013, FAAN installed 7 new X-ray scanners at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Ikeja, which has also been transformed through a massive structural expansion and re-modelling programme. To be sure, the infrastructure deficit at the country’s airports remains daunting. This is mainly due to the fact that re-investment in these facilities – upgrade and maintenance – over the past four decades has been largely inadequate.

Fire fighting equipment at airports
During the year, the federal government provided fire fighting equipment at major airports to boost the quick response time of the agencies to emergency situations, in addition to the supply of ambulances, security patrol vans and modern security screening equipment. Nonetheless, the issue of perimeter fencing at all airports which is necessary to boost security at the airports, remains a major challenge due to the sheer size of the various airports around the country.

The Benin airport stowaway incident
That problem was highlighted by the unfortunate stowaway incident at the Benin Airport few months ago. FAAN has however, initiated new security measures to counter such incidents until government is able to fence all airports across the country.

Power cut at airports
Another major challenge is that of providing constant, uninterrupted power supply to all airports, in the face of unreliable power supply from the national grid. FAAN has had to rely mostly on generators for power supply at all airports, at huge financial cost to the Authority.
The seriousness of the problem was highlighted by a few ugly incidents of  power cut while airports were still in operation. This challenge is being addressed vigorously through power improvement projects at all the airports, the completion of which will ensure uninterrupted power supply at these airports.
The minister is  to begin the implementation of a plan to create aerotropolis (airport cities) project around  major airports in the country such as the MMIA, Lagos, and other airports in Port Harcourt, Enugu and Kano.

Oduahgate
The main crisis that really  rocked the industry this year remains what the press called the oduahgate. The crisis was as a result of the purchase of two BMW armored vehicles for Oduah at the cost of $1.6 million.The purchase  was  viewed by Nigerians  as unnecessary and outrageous in view  of the fact that the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) is believed to be cash strapped.Critics also  called for the removal of the minister. It would appear that those allegations of impunity have  been swept under the carpet.

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