For decades, air traffic passengers have had unpleasant experiences at Nigeria’s international airports. Even passengers travelling through Nigeria’s capital city airport, the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, were not spared the agony. Passengers’ uncomplimentary tales from time to time dot the social and conventional media and rents the air at discussions. From humid terminal experiences as a result of failing air conditioners to bad toilet facilities, chocked terminals and even lack of robust shopping/duty free facilities – experiences that should not be associated with a capital city. Capital city airports are unique selling points of countries, especially to foreign visitors.
Though the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), the terminal owners, has over the years tried to improve customer experience at the international terminal of the Abuja airport, but the palliatives have not been far-reaching enough. Modest gains have been recorded in improving the ambiance around the terminals, crowd control and renovation of toilet facilities but those experiences are a far cry from what an international airport facility with huge passenger traffic like Nigeria should offer.
However, this narrative has changed with the inauguration of the new international terminal at the Abuja airport with state-of-the-art facilities by President Muhammadu Buhari on Thursday.
This milestone began in 2013 when the then President Goodluck Jonathan reached an agreement with the Chinese Government over a $500m loan facility to build four international airport terminals in Nigeria: Abuja, Kano, Lagos and Port Harcourt.
Abuja and Port Harcourt have been completed and commissioned. The government also paid $100m in counterpart funding. One of the conditions for the concessionary loan was that the $500m loan would be paid directly to China EXIM Bank to the Chinese contractor, CCECC, to eliminate unnecessary payment delays in the contract execution and as a guarantee the contract would not be breached irrespective of the government in power. The airports were originally billed to be completed in 2016, but that did not happen due to challenges associated with delayed release of counterpart funding.
During the facility tour recently, our correspondent also gathered that the facility has in excess of 400 CCTV cameras covering every inch of the approximately 56,000m2 facility; a concourse area and a 22-room hotel facility.
The Managing Director/CEO of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), Engr. Saleh Dunoma, told our correspondent that the new terminal building brought new frontiers and possibilities for Nigeria’s aviation sector.
He said the Abuja airport was doing about 7.5 million passengers annually; both domestic and international, but that now the new terminal could process 15 million passengers annually.
He also said foreign airlines were ready to move into the facility as soon as they were able to do so.
Our correspondent also gathered that Emirates, Ethiopian Airlines and British Airways might be the first set of foreign airlines to use the facility.
The Minister of State for Aviation, Sen. Hadi Sirika, told the audience during the commissioning ceremony that from political and economic perspectives, the Abuja airport “is very strategic to Nigeria not only because it is the gateway to the nation’s capital, but also because it is the second busiest airport in the country and the fastest growing in passenger traffic in West and Central Africa, with an average growth rate of eight percent, where the world’s average growth is 5.8 per cent.”
He said, “The airport processed 5,709,012 passengers in 2017. This volume equals to about 13 times the total number of passengers recorded by Ghana as a country.”
The terminal building, he said, was covering a space of approximately 56,000m2.
He said the Federal Executive Council (FEC) had approved the second tranche for the funding of the phase two of the terminal in the sum of $461,795,551.02. The phase takes into cognisance additional facilities that will enhance airport efficiency, he said.
Sen. Sirika also said the phase two included completion of Kano and Lagos terminals.
He said, “The contractor has gone ahead to implement it as approved, but recently slowed down the pace of work due to non-payment of $69.3m counterpart funding by government.”
He thus requested the president to pay the funds to enable him complete all the facilities.
Join Daily Trust WhatsApp Community For Quick Access To News and Happenings Around You.
