Buhari Seeks Speedy Completion Of Airport Concession, Second Abuja Runway

The President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (rtd), has directed the Minister of Aviation, Hadi Sirika, to accelerate plans towards actualising the ongoing field concession programme.

He also said spoke about the need for a alternate runway at the Abuja field.

Buhari spoke when he opened the new transnational terminal at the Murtala Muhammed Airport, Lagos, on Tuesday.

During his address at the induction of the new terminal, the President bared that the Abuja alternate runway was being presto- tracked, saying he’d directed the Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed, to source special backing for the design.

According to him, the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory has the responsibility of concluding the titling of the approved hectares of land to accommodate the runway and other experimental systems.

He further reiterated his government’s commitment towards investing in long- lasting structure in aeronautics, road and rail transportation, husbandry, telecommunications, and other critical sectors.

He said the investments had formerly begun to yield massive results, noting that Nigerians are now attesting to these benefits of the tips of republic.

He said, “This event is an eloquent testimony to the strong commitment of our administration to the development of world-class infrastructure across all sectors of the Nigerian economy.”

“Our continuous investment in the building of long-lasting infrastructure in the aviation, road and rail transportation, agriculture, telecommunications, and other critical sectors is yielding massive results, and the people of Nigeria are now increasingly attesting to benefiting from the associated dividends.”

The Minister of Aviation, Hadi Sirika, said the end game was to grow the aeronautics sector’s donation from the current0.6 per cent to five per cent ( roughly$14.166 b).

He also said IATA projects the air transport request in Nigeria is read under the” current trends” script to grow by 174 per cent in the coming 20 times.

Sirika also asked Buhari to prevail on the Central Bank of Nigeria to release$$ 283m of foreign airlines’ blocked finances.