Why single runway can no longer sustain Abuja airport —Nnaji

The Chairman of the House of Representatives’ aviation committee, Honourable Nnolim Nnaji, has attributed the country’s administrative capital status of Abuja and its growing economy to why it can no longer cope with a single airport runway.

Speaking during the recent safety oversight visit paid to the Nnamdi Azikwe Airport, Abuja, by members of the joint aviation committees of the National Assembly, while reacting to the minister of aviation’s promise that the N92 billion second Abuja International Airport Runway project would be completed before the exit of the current regime, he sought the commitment of the contractor that the project would be completed on schedule.

The minister, who conducted members of the committees of the two chambers of the National Assembly around the ongoing projects at the Abuja Airport, revealed that the contractor for the second runway, Chinese Civil Engineering Construction Company (CCECC) had been fully mobilized.

Nnaji and his counterpart at the upper chamber, Senator Abiodun Olujimi, stressed that the construction of the second runway at the Abuja Airport was long overdue considering the strategic importance of the airport to the nation.

Senator Olujimi used the occasion to assure the minister that the two committees of the National Assembly would do whatever was possible to restore the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA) to the Federal Budget because of its critical role in the safety of air navigation.

The lawmakers equally inspected the airport’s cargo terminal and the multi-storey car park, both of which were in the advanced stages of completion, before departing back to the National Assembly.