The Chairman of BAL Engineering Limited, Engr. Bashiru Lawal, has disclosed that the nation has no alternative rather than to close the Nnamdi Azikwe International Airport, Abuja for the period of six weeks when rehabilitation work will be carried out at the runway of the airport.
Lawal, an Engineering Consultant, made this disclosure on Friday in Ilorin, the Kwara State capital while reacting to the planned closure of the Abuja Airport to give way for the rehabilitation of the runway during an interview with journalists.
The engineering expert noted that “there was no way a major rehabilitation or construction work would be carried out all over the world in an airport. Diversion of flights would not happen more so in an airport or a nation like Nigeria that has no alternative runway.
”There was no how such projects would be carried out on a runway that local or international flights would be allowed to land or take off more so that pilots do not want the sight of any object on the runway.”
He however appealed to Nigerians to bear and be patient with the Federal Government to complete the rehabilitation work so as to avert any calamity or aviation disaster warning that the runway project must have outlived its life span though, called for a moderate cost and a standard project.
The diversion of fights from the Nnamdi Azikwe Airport to Kaduna Airport, according to him would enable the government to repair the Kaduna – Abuja road and provide more security to passengers plying the highway.