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Reactions have begun following the recent announcement by the minister of aviation, Senator Hadi Sirika, that the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA), and Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) head offices in Lagos would be demolished to make room for the planned conversion of the Murtala Muhammed Airport, Lagos, to an aerotropolis status.
Aerotropolis is a brand-new type of urban development that extends up to 25 kilometers from major airports and consists of aviation-intensive businesses and related businesses.
Without a doubt, the idea to transform the Lagos airport into an aerotropolis, which was first conceived by Princess Adaeze Oduah about eight years ago, requires a tremendous amount of work, ranging from the significant financial resources required to carry out the enormous project on the one hand, to the requirement to provide enough space that will provide all the infrastructure and other logistics that will make all the aerotropolis components available for the top gateway.
In other words, this project, apart from the humongous funds needed, has other critical issues that obviously must be resolved, like settling with those whose offices will be destroyed to make room for the project, and many more.
Therefore, a gigantic project like the aerotropolis, as good as it is meant to be, cannot be achieved in one year, not to mention the six months left before the present government leaves the stage for another government.
It is on this premise that many key players are wondering how the minister believes he can conveniently make this dream a reality before his term elapses, in view of many similar huge projects he has already begun.
It is on record that the minister has already put his hands on projects like the national carrier, Nigeria Air, the aircraft maintenance facility, otherwise known as the Maintenance Repair and Overhaul (MRO), airport concessions, and the expansion of the defective money-spinning terminals, two at the Lagos international airport, that are presently being shunned by foreign airlines due to design errors and the wrong placement of the apron where aircraft should be parked.
Equally, other projects the minister has delved into include: his promise that Nigeria will soon start assembling aircraft before the present government leaves office; the acquisition of 12,000 hectares of land to, among others, accommodate a N92. 5 billion second runway at the Abuja airport, the provision of an aviation leasing company (ALC); agro-allied cargo terminals; the Africa Aerospace and Aviation University (AAAU); and many others.
The magic wand the minister intends to use to make all these big projects come to fruition in the remaining six months of his tenure is blowing in the wind in view of what is required.
Without sounding pessimistic, it does not make sense to think that all these projects are feasible when there are other sectors that are also yearning for financial aid from the same government.
It is, therefore, at this juncture that the minister needs to prioritize his interests so as not to throw the sector into a deeper crisis, which may undermine some of the good efforts he had earlier made when he eventually leaves the position.
All these projects cannot be achieved in the next six months in the face of the coming electioneering campaigns that will divert all attention to 2023, and under this condition, there is no way the minister will still have the locus standi to continue with the projects as he will be expected, like other government officials, to start preparing his handover notes and tidy up his financial books.
In order not to litter everywhere with unfinished projects and thus create problems for the incoming government that may have different agendas, let all these projects be put on hold while all efforts should remain on the Nigeria Air project.
It is not compulsory that the minister must execute all these projects in his time, after all, the incoming government will also appoint a successor who will have the time to review the projects and execute the critical ones.
It is on this premise that any move to demolish the offices of the agencies in Lagos will be tantamount to a waste of national structures and funds, which will further compound the crisis already confronting the sector due to the misguided policies of the government.
Besides, the demolition of the offices within such a short period will create serious distractions for the personnel who do not need such in view of the sensitive functions they carry out in making flight operations and other critical roles possible for seamless operations, as it happened with the demolition of the former head office of the Accident Investigation Bureau (AIB) for a project that no one knows when it will eventually see the light of day.
Almost seven months after the demolition of the AIB head office built with millions of national funds wasted on the excuse that its location obstructed the expansion project of the new terminal at the Lagos airport, the former head office of the bureau has since been taken over by weeds and rats while the workers displaced there have been doing their jobs in precarious conditions.
If the minister could not execute most of these projects for over seven years that he has occupied the seat, what makes him think he can achieve that in less than six months, and what will he benefit from leaving a chaotic aviation sector behind as a result of bad policies? The incoming government and the subsequent minister should be given the benefit of the doubt to consider the projects and execute the critical ones that will urgently impact the sector positively rather than pursuing the ‘fire brigade approach’ that will only create crises.
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