Five years after Abuja airport closure, FG fails to construct 2nd runway

DESPITE huge revenue losses incurred by Nigeria during the closure of the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja in 2017, many years after, the Federal Government is yet to construct a second runway. 

The decision to close the airport for the purpose of the rehabilitation of its only runway was condemned from different quarters, both local and international. 

Many stakeholders in the aviation sector said it was total negligence on the side of the government for the international airport in the capital of the country to have only one runway. The condemnation was followed by resistance from the international airlines who refused to move services to the Kaduna airport which was provided by the Federal Government as the alternative airport for passengers coming into Abuja for the period of the six weeks of airport closure for repairs. 

In April 2017, a few weeks after the airport was reopened for flights services, Minister of Aviation, Hadi Sirika, said the proposal for the construction of the second runway was included in the 2017 budget and that work would commence as soon as the appropriation bill was approved by the National Assembly. Sirika, however, told journalists in Abuja that the approval for the construction was dependent on the availability of funds. 

“We will have a second runway in Abuja by the grace of God. All our major airports have second runway, including Lagos, Port Harcourt, and Kano airports. 

“It’s only Abuja which is the nation’s capital and the fastest growing city in Africa that has no second runway,” he said. 

He also stated that when the government attempted to build the second runway in the past, the cost of doing it became astronomical from what the contractors were charging. 

“Nigerians reacted rightfully and of course, the whole idea was abandoned and I was thinking that this probably may not be the right way to go. They should have actually tried to kill the cost instead of killing the project,” he said. 

In 2015, the upper chamber of the National Assembly had queried the N63.5 billion approved for the construction of the second runway for the Abuja airport. 

The lawmakers said it was an attempt to ‘steal and rape’ Nigerians of the country’s common patrimony. 

According to a motion presented by Senator Dino Melaye, then of the All Progressives Congress, the cost for the construction of the runway was too high. While presenting the motion, Senator Melaye noted that the contract for the construction of the runway was cancelled by the last administration after an allegation of over-inflation of contracts was established. 

He said that the contract was awarded by the Federal Executive Council, at N64 billion after ratification by the Bureau for Public Procurement (BPP). 

Melaye noted that the entire Gombe airport, with 3.6km runaway cost N8.2 billion; Jigawa airport cost a total of N11 billion, Bauchi, N12 billion; Enugu Airport, reconstructed and expanded at N13 billion and Akwa Ibom Airport was constructed at N18.05 billion. 

He expressed worry that the proposed cost of constructing just a runway at the Nnamdi Azikiwe Airport, Abuja was too high, insisting that the amount was four times the cost of constructing a new runway in the country. 

Melaye argued that the new Terminal 5 at the Heathrow Airport, with four lanes of 4km runway cost less than N22 billion, stating that constructing a 3.8km oneline runway for N63.5 billion would be a waste of funds considering Nigeria’s present economic situation. 

This argument made the government to totally abandon the idea of constructing a second runaway, until in 2017 when the only runway at the Abuja international airport became totally bad and the government had no other choice but to close the whole airport for repairs. 

Many would have thought that due to the heavy criticism faced by the Federal Government while trying to close down Abuja airport and during the period of the closure, they would move fast to ensure another runaway was constructed. But not so. 

Soon after the airport was reopened, government went to sleep again. 

In 2020, the Federal Executive Council (FEC) approved the sum of N1.7 billion as consultancy fee for the construction of a second runway at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja. 

The Minister of Aviation, Hadi Sirika, who disclosed this while briefing State House correspondents at the end of the third virtual meeting of the council presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari, said the amount covers consultancy services for the design of the new runway. 

“Today in council, a memo from the Ministry of Aviation was considered, and it is the consultancy services for the construction of second runway here in Abuja. The contract went to a consortium of consultants for the total contract sum of N1.7 billion. 

“This includes 7.5 per cent Value Added Tax (VAT) and also the exchange rate for the dollar component of N360 to one dollar. This is what caused the seeming increase in the last estimated figure,” he said. 

Sirika stated that the consultancy part of the project was for 12 months, noting that a lot of work had been done in the procurement of consultancy services. 

However, in close to two years, nothing has been heard about the progress of the work done by the consultancy for the construction of the second runway. 

Nigerian Tribune spoke to a top official of the Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) who under the condition of anonymity said, “I don’t know anything about that project. We heard about it on the news just the way you did too.”

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