The Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) on Wednesday cautioned against indiscriminate construction of airports by state governors.
Mr George Uriesi, Managing Director of FAAN gave the warning in Abuja in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).
He said that before embarking on the airport projects, the governors should consider the viability and economic implications on the resources of their states.
“It is easy to build an airport, having built it though, it is a very onerous responsibility because whether an airport is small, whether it is big, it must have a runway that is like a big airport’s runway.
“The runway must be maintained, if you have a terminal it must be maintained, if you have no flights coming in you, have no revenue, the government itself would have to keep putting that to make the airport usable.
“It is only when these airports are built that they now know the consequences of building an airport.
“There are a couple a state airports in the country, they are now coming to FAAN to say `what can we arrange to help make this airport a little bit more viable’ but more than that please help us manage it so that you keep the cost down.
He said that FAAN could not stop any state government from building and owning an airport, but added that it was best to consider managing the airport before constructing it.
“We are trying to do some good work in Akure to make it viable; Akure is one of the airports with the biggest land, we are going into agriculture there, it is one of our designated agro-airports.
“We now have two airlines flying in and very soon as soon as people start getting used to flying into Akure, you will see the traffic will begin to grow; we are very happy with the progress there.
He advised that it was not usually necessary to insist on building an airport in a state when there is another airport close to the border of the neighbouring state.
While taking into account the deteriorating state of airports in Nigeria, he said that FAAN was doing all it could to salvage the situation and urged Nigerians to be patient
“FAAN is keenly aware of our responsibility to Nigerians; we are aware that over the past few years our airports haven’t exactly been a monument of pride.
“All I can ask for is patience and sacrifice because for the Murtala Mohammed Airport (MMA) in particular; it is going to become a massive construction site shortly.
“We are going to be building four multi storey car parks simultaneously, a new terminal, three new hotels, by October it would be a massive construction site.
“By 2015, if you get to the MMA, you will wonder wether this is in Nigeria. Nigerians should please bear with us,” he said.
