The Federal Government yesterday dropped hints of closing down Abuja
airport as a precautionary measure because of the bad state of the
runway.
The Minister of State, Aviation, Senator Hadi Sirika, who
dropped the hint at the 2016 Aviation Stakeholders Summit in Abuja, also
said the government would concession the Abuja, Lagos, Port Harcourt
and Kano international airports in the first phase of its concession
programme.
He said that government was committed to upgrading the
existing facilities at the airports as well as developing new strategy
for repositioning the sector.
Sirika said: “The thinking is that
just like every other place in the world, we will concession our
airports and we are beginning with the big four, Lagos, Abuja, Port
Harcourt and Kano.
“It would have been ideal to take them to some level of acceptance
for them to attract more. But I think we just get those guys who believe
that in Nigeria they can create a hub geographically given by God.
“To
come and put in their money and create this hub, build these airports,
concession them, run them and make money out of them.”
He said
that the current facilities at the airports did not meet international
standards and best practices in the aviation industry, adding that
private sector involvement was the way forward.
According to him,
if the government is able to concession the four airports successfully
in the first phase, it will pay attention to providing infrastructure
and developing domestic airports for optimal performance.
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