A few years ago, the Federal Government
of Nigeria shut down the Port Harcourt
International Airport to carry out what
they called repairs or was it renovation? It
was supposed to be an exercise for a few
weeks, but it took more than an entire
year.
Flights were diverted to an airport in the
city at great cost to travellers, but the so-
called renovation took forever. The Port
Harcourt airport became a grazing field for
cows, at other times, a vehicle-driving
field, and for more than one year, travel to
Port Harcourt, one of Nigeria’s most
strategic cities was a nightmare.
Each time the
Nigerian government
talks about fixing the
airports, using the
words, renovation,
rehabilitation or
reform, it is better to
be cynical. The Sam
Mbakwe Airport in
Owerri, for example,
was once touted as a
major hub in the
South East, and
government spent so
much money turning
it into an international
cargo airport for the
East, but that same
airport soon became
flooded during the
rainy season and
planes could no longer
land.
Both the Port Harcourt and Owerri airports
are currently in a permanent state of
renovation. The lives of those who wanted
to renovate them at any level whatsoever
are ironically and scandalously, imaginably
better renovated. The airports failed, the
managers smiled to the banks. In those two
airports, travellers were put through
enormous strain because the entire airports
or sections had to be shut down. But the
people, expectant as they were had no
choice in the matter. The Nigerian
government is so powerful; the people are
helpless. The same government the people
elect with their votes punishes them
unjustly. The people themselves behave as
if they are in bondage.
This was what
happened in
particular when the
Port Harcourt Airport
was being renovated.
Travellers were
abused. Airlines
subjected them to
enormous indignity.
Businesses suffered.
Government failed to
keep its promise. The
airlines and their staff
even became arrogant,
failing to realize they
were victims too. They
treated customers
shabbily and there
was no way anyone
could blame them
when government
itself was uncaring
Looked at differently, the biggest problem
is not necessarily the politicians and their
appointees who sashay in and out of
power, but the civil servants who run the
engine room of government and who over
the years have perfected a culture of graft
and incompetence. They look the other way
when politicians dismantle the rules, often
times out of sheer cruelty and for the
better part, the political leaders are guided
to do so by the civil servants.
Which department of
government is
responsible for the
maintenance of
airports?: The Federal
Airport Authority of
Nigeria (FAAN). I
believe everybody in
that agency should be
lined up and caned
publicly and
investigated according
to the law. Should
they have any stories
to tell about the poor
state of Nigerian
airports, despite the
enormous amounts
that are budgeted
yearly, they should tell
us as each stroke of
the cane descends on
their buttocks. I don’t
consider corporal
punishment a tool of
governance, so I speak
metaphorically, but
the rot in the aviation
section is so terrible, a
feeling of outrage
commands something
extra-ordinary. Weigh
that against the plane
crashes, loss of lives,
and the agony of air
travel just because
some incompetents
have had to
superintend over
Nigeria’s aviation
sector.
I am this outraged because a sad story is
about to repeat itself. The Federal
Government of Nigeria is proposing to shut
down the Nnamdi Azikiwe International
Airport in Abuja, beginning March 8, for
six weeks: to build a second runway and to
carry out renovations. During the period,
flights will be diverted to Kaduna Airport
and passengers will be required to travel
by rail or road to Abuja. The excuse is that
the runway in Abuja is almost collapsing.
The life span of a runway is 20 years and
this particular runway in Abuja has been
there for 34 years.
Politicians come and
go but one significant
fellow has suddenly
woken up in either the
FAAN or the Ministry
of Aviation and a
proposal has been
submitted for
renovation. And that
proposal is now
causing so much
commotion. All the
characters responsible
for this costly neglect
and delay should be
lined up and
sanctioned, and that
should include a
thorough investigation
into the possibility of
this “new” project
having being
proposed, budgeted for
and cash-backed
before now. At what
point did it occur to
FAAN that the airport
needs a second
runway, and who is
the brain behind the
hair-brained proposal
that is now before the
public?
We have been told that for six weeks,
flights will be diverted to the Kaduna
airport. The Minister of State for Aviation
(by the way, who is the Minister of
Aviation?) has been quoted saying he wants
“knowledge” as to how this can be
managed. The Ministry has also summoned
a meeting of stakeholders after taking the
decision. This has been a classic case of
acting before thinking, making it all appear
ridiculous. The international airlines are
insisting that they find this kind of thinking
inconvenient.
Truly so: Local airline
operators are not
excited either. The
National Association of
Nigeria Travel
Agencies (NANTA) and
the Airline Operators
of Nigeria (AON) are
protesting. Common
sense, a scarce
commodity at this
time, should have
dictated that a
meeting of
stakeholders should
have been held before
the decision was
taken. But the
arrogant position-
holders took the
decision first and then
decided to invite the
stakeholders as an
after-thought.
Ask these questions: is there an ulterior
motive? Ignore common sense and present
the public with a fait accompli? Is that their
plan? Is politics, in the shape of further
Northernization involved? And why? Make
Kaduna a new hub? Shift aviation travel
further North? The failure to maintain
runways and observe best practices is a
reflection of the Nigerian problem: our
national nonsense. Besides, Nigeria is
forever a victim of last minute decisions.
We remember to think when it appears too
late to do so. Conspiracy theories are thus
enabled when those who should act rightly
behave as if they are busy thinking with
their orifices.
Get it: The decision to
shut down the Nnamdi
Azikiwe International
Airport in Abuja and
move traffic to the
Kaduna airport for six
weeks has not been
properly thought
through. Poor thinking
is the enemy of good
governance. There is
no guarantee to start
with, that the
renovation and
rehabilitation can be
completed in six
weeks. Remember Port
Harcourt and Owerri.
We have been told
nevertheless, that this
is a good decision. But
the timing is unwise.
We are moving
passengers to Kaduna
at a time that same
state and city is in
turmoil. Thousands
are being slaughtered
daily in Southern
Kaduna. The crisis has
both religious and
ethnic undertones.
And now we are
moving more
Nigerians to the
North, so they can get
killed at the airport on
or their way to Abuja?
Who in his or her
right senses would like
to travel through
Kaduna at this time?
A standard travel advisory should be:
travel through Kaduna at your own risk
and commit possible suicide. And to this:
let no paid vuvuzela tell me the roads are
safe and that the rail line to Abuja does not
pass through Southern Kaduna. Also
consider this: Government says it will
provide buses. Who will bear the cost?
Traveling from wherever to Kaduna to
reach Abuja is likely to be more costly in
every sense. Will the airlines bear the cost?
Or the already aggrieved travellers will be
subjected to extra cost and pain? Foreign
airliners have already rejected the Kaduna
airport. It is by every international
standard a poor airport. It can’t even
accommodate a crowd. Why would
government subject travellers to obvious
chaos and behave as if it does not matter.
Copy this:
“The Minister of State, Aviation, Hadi
Sirika, however, said total closure of the
Abuja airport runway was inevitable,
judging from the worrisome level of
dilapidation…. (I see)
The minister assured of adequate security
of travellers on transit by road from Abuja
to Kaduna and vice versa, adding that the
Ministry of Defence, the Nigeria Police,
National Security and Civil Defence Corps,
the Directorate of State Security and other
agencies will provide cover for airlines and
passengers. (Really?)
“We’ll increase the
number of security
personnel around
Kaduna Metropolis;
we’ll have traffic
officials in every
village and
intersection. There’ll
be members of
National Emergency
Management Agency
(NEMA), fire fighters
and ambulances at
certain strategic
positions. Police and
the Air Force are to
provide aerial patrols,
complemented by
ground police.
(Bribery and extortion
loading…)
There will be
intelligence gathering.
There will be bus
coaches, train services,
specialised car hire
services and helicopter
shuttles from private
operators. But
government will
provide shuttles for
passengers,” he
assured. (Talk is
cheap, truly)
This is precisely why the Ministry of
Aviation should reconsider its stand.
Stakeholders including foreign airlines
should be carried along before any further
step is taken and that has to be in line with
international best practices. Everybody
involved should admit that we are dealing
with a Nigerian crisis. Nigerians who travel
by air don’t deserve to be punished. They
have suffered enough already. The airlines
can’t even get enough aviation fuel in
Abuja, not to talk of Kaduna.
Let no one forget this:
Abuja is a strategic
city. Those who travel
there do so with a
purpose. It is the city
of adventurers not
settlers. It is the city
of the Federal
Government. People go
there to sort out
government matters
including contracts
and other matters.
Shutting down the
Abuja airport is like
shutting down the city,
and perhaps the entire
country. The Ministry
of Aviation makes it
sound as if this is
inevitable, but we
must tell them, and
tell them again, that
the Kaduna airport is
not ready and to
repeat the Port
Harcourt experience
in Abuja would be sad
and counter-
productive.
It is not for nothing that the international
airlines are already protesting that they
don’t want to go to Kaduna. The argument
about fixing the runway to make it safer is
okay, and we all know why nothing is ever
properly maintained in this country, and
why projects of six weeks end up taking
one year, and more, so don’t tell me the
obvious, but government decisions no
matter how well-meaning, should be
governed by good thinking. A mismanaged
renovation of the Abuja airport could
result in months of avoidable agony and
disaster for the Nigerian economy.
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