In the incident about fortnight ago, the Saudi plane, which was carrying military hardware on a flight from Jeddah, taxied beyond the portion of the runway that was in use at the time, and hit repair equipment abandoned on the other portion that was closed. About 1,100 meters of the runway was undergoing repair work and closed to air traffic.
Although aviation authorities claimed that in-bound pilots were sufficiently guided on the distance available for use on the runway, it is not clear if that information contained caveats of the ongoing repair work. An investigative panel, which has been named, should be able to determine that.
After hitting the repair equipment, the plane broke down, blocking the runway and forcing its closure to air traffic for the period it took authorities to evacuate it. The incident also forced in-bound international flights that were already airborne to divert to Lagos. Daily local flights from the airport were also cancelled, affecting thousands of travellers. About 78 domestic flights operate daily from Lagos to Abuja; and from Abuja to other destinations. With an average of 100 passengers per flight, the airlines may have lost 7,800 passengers, amounting losses grossing some N140 million at an average of N18, 000 per seat. This is a huge blow to the airlines and to the country’s economy. It was particularly unfortunate for a sector that is beset by many challenges, including regulatory and management.
It is normal for runways to go bad, and to be shut while repairs last. But it is scandalous that an airport such as the one located in the nation’s capital city to have just one runway, part of which would be in use when a section of it is being patched up. This cannot qualify for best practices approval. It certainly falls below the standard of airport facilities. Even by the Nigerian standard, it makes no sense that repair tools would be abandoned on the runway at any stage of the repair work. Explanations must be provided for this negligence.
It is equally unhelpful that Nigeria lacks purpose-built military airports where cargo planes bearing heavy military equipment could, for security reasons, go to land, with proper oversight of course. It is even more scandalous that Abuja, the country’s capital city, does not have one military airport. This is a serious disadvantage, if not a threat to Nigeria’s territorial integrity.
The fact that it took that long before the Saudi plane was removed from the runway does not only have security implications for the country, but also speaks to the inadequate capacity of Nigerian airports in responding to or managing emergencies. Such inefficiency, of both airport personnel and services, undermines and endangers the country’s sovereignty. Indeed, landing such otherwise dangerous cargo at civil airport facilities that lack equipment to handle it was ill-advised; accidents could easily happen, with serious consequences.
Since the emergency response capability is supposed to be an integral part of the overall Airport Management System and Certification, it is important that the relevant agencies, including legislative oversight panels, should audit all the airports in the country to ascertain their capacity to handle similar or more serious technical crisis in the future; any deficiency should be rectified. Abuja definitely needs additional runways.
