Why there is incessant outage at Lagos airport —FAAN

The Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) has attributed the incessant power outage at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA) in the past three weeks due to construction work going on at the new international terminal of the airport.

Although light was restored at most parts of the airport on Monday, FAAN explained that there could be more disruptions,  as the agency plans to find a lasting solution to the power cuts.

The agency explained that electric cables buried underground that provided power at the airport were inadvertently excavated by construction workers at the location where the new terminal is being built.

Confirming the excavation of the underground cables, the General Manager, Public Affairs of  FAAN,  Mr Yakubu Dati, said  engineers from the agency have been working to move the cables from the construction site and replace those that have been destroyed, noting that this would take a little time before the work is completed.

“Preliminary reports indicate the cause of the outage was the damage of two 11 KVA underground cables located within the construction premises of the new international terminal. Our engineers are urgently rectifying the problem. However, FAAN will relocate these cables out of the construction site to prevent re-occurrence and we crave your indulgence while that is being done. The Authority apologises for the inconvenience caused to airlines, passengers and the general public,” Dati said.

Investigation also disclosed that demand for electricity at the airport has been overstretched due to increased activities and expansion of the terminal and FAAN has acquired 500 KVA transformer and it is in the process of installing the equipment.