Abuja Airport runway debacle and matters arising

THE Federal Government’s plan to carry out a detailed repair on the Nnamdi Azikwe International Airport runway, Abuja come March this year has continued to elicit sharp reactions from different groups within and outside the country’s aviation sector.

Barring any last minute change, the repair which is expected to last for six weeks is coming seven years behind schedule.

In other words, the runway has been flogged by different sizes of aircraft landing and taking off consistently for almost three decades without any maintenance carried out there.

The constant use of the runway for such a long period has contradicted the number of years a runway should be used and overhauled in line with the maintenance programme policy.

Aviation Round Table (ART), a non profit organisation made up of various professionals within the aviation sector while speaking on the controversy the planned repairs has generated in the past weeks, argued that the controversy would have been avoided if those put in charge of such critical areas had done their jobs well.

According to ART, “the Abuja airport runway was originally meant to last for 20 years. However, on the balance of probability of the fact that it was underutilised judging from the number of landings on the runway, its utilization was further stretched by an additional 14 years leading to the current deplorable condition and the attendant grave safety implications as evidenced by several near fatal incidents that have occurred as a result of the bad condition of the runway.

“This could only have happened due to the fact that the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), which is responsible for conducting safety oversight of the sector, was docile and failed completely in ensuring that the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) religiously complies with the Runway Maintenance Programme for NAIA, which is an operational safety requirement.

“The failure of FAAN to strictly follow the Runway Maintenance Programme and conduct regular repairs and rehabilitation of the runway as at when due coupled with the lethargic oversight of NCAA have effectively contributed in bringing the situation to where it is today.”

Obviously, the declaration of the ART is the absolute fact that many key players across the sector have continued to point out to those who care to listen.

Prior to this moment, a lot of things have gone upside down in the critical sector which has called for questioning the competency of the country’s regulatory body, the NCAA on whose shoulder lies the responsibility of keeping taps on airlines, the relevant aviation agencies and other players whose roles are key to safety of flight operations in the country’s airspace.

It is therefore strange to see how an airport runway could be used for over 20 years at a stretch without following the due process of the maintenance programme policy in a country where there is a regulatory agency responsible for that function.

Before the controversy trailing the repairs of the Abuja airport started, the Abuja airport runway like many others had been described as death trap in view of the state of its disrepair with many airlines including the foreign ones expressing their discomfort.

At the Abuja airport in particular, airlines like South African Airways had recorded  some incidents on their airplanes because of the bad runway.

Besides the poor state of many of the airport runways, there are several other burning issues rocking the sector such as airlines’ indebtedness to their workers, issue of insurance, abandonment of training of critical personnel.

Many key players who have expressed their dismay at the posture of the NCAA towards all these happenings, have lashed at the leadership of the regulatory body with some arguing that the authority was not living up to expectations.

To say things are not going on properly in the sector is a fact and all these point to the fact that the present NCAA has  many questions to answer on where it was when critical safety issues have been left unattended to.

Could it be that the leadership at the regulatory agency has been overwhelmed or how does it intend to convince key players both within and out of the sector that it is on ground.

Or how comfortable is the NCAA leadership in the midst of these controversies the latest being the damage suffered by one of the Lufthansa Airlines aircraft which had its landing gear damaged at the same Abuja airport runway.

There is the need for the present leadership to urgently wake up and be more on ground as this will save the sector from more embarrassment brought upon it by a passive regulatory body. Therefore, to avoid unnecessary danger, the present NCAA leadership should either fall in or fall out.