By Dickson Omobola
Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo, Monday, said Federal Government had been able to develop aviation infrastructure with funds derived from the removal of fuel subsidy.
Keyamo identified the reconstruction of the old terminal at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos; construction of the second runway at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja; and the total reconstruction of the Kano airport runway among projects being funded with the proceeds.
He added that government was also resurfacing the runway at the Port Harcourt International Airport and would soon commence work on the runway at Akure Airport.
He spoke at the 67th anniversary of Aero Contractors held in Lagos.
He said: “This (anniversary) aligns with the vision of Mr President under the Renewed Hope agenda for the aviation sector, which is anchored on infrastructure and policy. The policy also goes to support local airlines and human capacity development of the aviation sector. But for infrastructure, we have started rebuilding the major gateway into Nigeria. The Old Terminal at the MMIA that has remained totally decrepit for so many years. That airport was built in 1977. Now, I ask the question, why have we not rebuilt our major gateways? Why did we allow them to deteriorate? It was because the country had no money for infrastructure.
“We could not raise money to do anything in the last 50 years because there was no money. The thing we managed to do was that we borrowed money from the Chinese (to build some terminals at some airports), and we are paying back that money. Why was there no money? All the monies we were earning in this country, from oil, were going to subsidies. Very simple. Our major earnings from oil, when we made money, all the monies went to subsidising PMS and suppressing the Naira.
“That was why every week, the CBN was doing sales of money to BPPs, at suppressed rates, so that they could then sell to the public at affordable rates. In less than two years, after we removed subsidies, from both money and fuel, in less than two years, the President raised $500 million to … Not money borrowed. The President raised $500 million to rebuild the Lagos Airport. Not money borrowed, but because our liquidity rose. Our foreign reserves also rose from $3 billion to $56 billion now, and investors are rushing to the country because they now see the country as viable.”
Meanwhile, the Chief Executive Officer and Accountable Manager of Aero Contractors, Captain Ado Sanusi, in his remarks, had challenged federal government to give aviation a more deliberate place in its Renewed Hope agenda.
Sanusi said aviation should not be viewed merely as a means of transportation, arguing that it could serve as a catalyst for tourism, trade, job creation and foreign investment.
He said: “Mr President, I must respectfully ask: Where is Aviation in the Renewed Hope agenda? Aviation is not simply a mode of transport; in nation after nation, in the Gulf, in East Africa, across our own continent, it has been used deliberately as a catalyst for economic growth: tourism, trade, jobs, foreign investment. And while we wait, others are not. Even now, a new mega-airport and a major maintenance hub are rising just across our border, a few minutes’ flight from Lagos, built, quite deliberately, to serve the Nigerian market.
“If we do not respond strategically and soon, we risk our airports becoming ghost airports, our hangars falling silent, and our jobs and investment flying quietly across the border, using our own population as the prize. Mr President, Minister: we are respectfully asking for a Renewed Hope for aviation, a deliberate, strategic national focus on this sector, alongside roads, rail and power, so that Nigeria’s skies remain ours to command.”
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