The expansion of the apron of the new international airport terminal in Lagos is to commence soon.
The Minister of aviation, HadiSirika who disclosed this Lagos at the unveiling of ten fire tenders said, the two obstacles to the expansion, Dominion and Evergreen Apple hangars and offices would have to be demolished.
The two hangars to be demolished, Dominion hangar is owed by Bishop David Oyedepo, founder of the Living Faith Church Worldwide and Evergreen Apple by the former Director General, Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority, NCAA, Dr Harold Demuren.
”We are not operating the Lagos airport at full capacity and it is household knowledge now, we have some obstructions that would be removed within the next one or two weeks so that, we can expand the apron so that, Lagos can have the full airport in full use to 10 per cent.”
He said, they would have to give way for the airport to be more efficient, adding that, it is $300 million investment over there.
”And they can’t sit there in public interest and we would certainly shift them somewhere, it has to go. You cannot deny this city Lagos and the country in general from the use of their airport.
“When we demolished AIB building that belongs to us, some people say it is to move them to Abuja, they have never been in Lagos, their headquarters is in Abuja and if the entire country is to move to Abuja, what is small AIB OF 200 people. I don’t need to demolish their building, if I say go and he doesn’t go, i fire him, i appointed him, big deal.”
He said, the agencies have been directed to put together document of all safety and security critical items that would make the industry more efficient, more profitable for posterity to form his handing over notes.
“Government is a serious business, if there is no government will would not be able to exist, so, what needs to be done will be done”.
“We are not operating the Lagos airport at full capacity. It is household knowledge now that we have some obstructions that will be removed very soon within one or two weeks to enable us expand the apron so that Lagos can have that full airport in full use 100 percent because of its premier nature and importance of Lagos to the economy of Nigeria.
“The Dominion and Evergreen hangars will have to give way for our airport to be more efficient. It is over $300 million investments that are there and they can’t continue to sit there because there is an overriding public interest. When we are trying to carry out transformation, some people politicise it or they decide to use it for mischievous reasons. We will surely shift them somewhere.”
“They have to go; we cannot deny the city of Lagos and the country needed development from the use of the airport. When we demolished AIB buildings that belong to us, people were complaining. If the entire country can move to Abuja, what is a small AIB of 200 people? I don’t need to demolish their building, if I say to the Commissioner go and he doesn’t go I fire him, I appointed him, no big deal,” the minister said.
Irked by condemnations that trailed the planned demolition of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) offices in Lagos for what he called an aerotropolis project, Sirikasaid “some people try to politicise all these things. When we say we are going to remove FAAN headquarters completely, bring it down and build shopping malls, hotels, and make it more useful for the over 20 million people of Lagos and the economy of Nigeria, somebody is talking rubbish, the government will do it.”
“We cannot continue to be the way we are and then you open your mouth and complain that look at this airport, it is too chaotic, there is too much go slow, too much hold ups and traffics into the airport, why there won’t be traffic when we don’t build infrastructure that will remove the traffic. We are signing a contract by next week to build the rail from the domestic to the international wing of the airport.”
He said the agencies’ heads had been directed “to put together and document all the safety, security, critical items that will make the industry more efficient, more profitable, document them for posterity saying that will form part of his handover note.”
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