Kaduna-airport

Prominent members of the House of Representatives yesterday described the Kaduna International  Airport which is serving as a substitute to the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport Abuja whose runway is undergoing reconstruction, as a safety risk.

Chairman of the House Committee on Loans, Aids and Debt Management, Hon. Adeyinka Ajayi, who recently visited the airport, gave his colleagues yesterday an account of his experience:

“God forbid that an aircraft should drop from the skies due to our own errors. This is what we should not pray to happen. As we speak, we have aircraft flying in the air. It can happen to anybody. Safety standards are not being adhered to at the airport. Aircraft manoeuvring and parking space is inadequate to accommodate the high number of aircraft now operating in and out of the airport.

“Further disturbing is that some aviation fuel marketers have been allegedly transferring Jet A-1 from bulk road tankers directly into bowers right on the tarmac and discharging same into aircraft; this poses a lot of danger to passengers and aircraft safety.”

Hon. Nnenna Ukeje, Chairman of the House Committee on Foreign Relations  supported Adeyinka’s claims, saying the ‘Kaduna airport experiment’ is an outright failure.

The Majority and Minority leaders of the House, Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila and Hon. Leo Ogor respectively gave negative remarks on the state of the alternative airport.

Femi Gbajabiamila:

“If all the foreign airlines but one said they would not use Kaduna, was there something they knew that we did not know? If the airlines have chosen to lose money than fly into Kaduna, then there is a problem that we should be concerned about.”

Leo Ogor:

“When I flew into Kaduna, what I saw there for me is a construction site. It is very dangerous for our safety. Why did we rush to go to Kaduna? Nigerian routes are the most lucrative. For the foreign airlines to reject Kaduna means that we should do something.”

Also voicing out his opinion was Hon. Hassan Saleh. He said of the Kaduna airport: “It is a disaster waiting to happen. Security measures at that airport have collapsed. You could see that the security personnel are overwhelmed by the crowd. They no longer conduct full security checks because of the huge crowds.”