Princess Stella Oduah, minister of Aviation said she is delighted with the pace of work at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Ikeja, Lagos.

She expressed her satisfaction while on an inspection tour of facilities at the airport on recently

Facilities inspected include the Extended Departure and Arrival Halls, new in-bound baggage reclaim carousels, on-going construction work on “Fingers” as well as Transit Facilities.

Similarly, the Minister said that the Ministry is focused as regards the proposed national carrier and shall make public pronouncement on the project soon.

 Briefing newsmen immediately after inspecting the fingers, particularly on the date the projects will be open to public use, Oduah, “The key word is that we are going to Commission the projects very soon; we want to be able to facilitate the usage of these facilities by first quarter of next year (2014). But what is very key is that passenger traveling experience will be very different. It will be the way it should be; providing them comfort, security and most importantly, it will increase the capacity. There will be ample space for smart operations at the areas. By this strategy, the safety and security of the passengers is being enhanced.

“Thus, Nigerians should expect the aviation industry that was promised to them; an industry that will be catalyst for national development. Essentially, this will be an industry that has been repositioned to create jobs, hubs and skills for the people”.

For other remodeling projects on-going in other airports across the country, she said, “Airport projects are always work in progress. However, ours is targeted at between first and second quarter of next year, we wouldn’t see the massive work on-going. We should be commissioning and using them. Like the finger we just visited, we are changing all the bridges; by the second quarter of next year we should see different bridges. I am sure; most people do not know we have such space upstairs at the MMIA. Ours is to maximize the capacity that has not been tapped into these years.

“Airports like Owerri, Sokoto, Akure, Yola and several others are ready. We are just making sure that is there are T’s to cross or I’s to dot we do so before commissioning them.

“By January we shall start commissioning them, but we allowed passengers to use them because they deserve the best”.

For the national carrier, she added that the Federal Government ought to have pronounced the new national carrier, but it has been delayed due to few challenges.

“We are trying to rectify them. We shall be pronouncing the new national carrier soon, however, the important thing is that we want to give Nigerians the national carrier that we all aspire to have; such that will be a true representation of all of us; such that will be professionally and efficiently managed.

Also, Oduah clarified issues surrounding the on-going power projects at the airport, she said that the first project has commenced, even as the Ministry hopes to mobilize the contractor for the second project.

Oduah, since assuming duties as minister of Aviation, has always reiterated her quest to readdress quagmires she inherited in an industry poorly developed, steeped in crises with threat of imminent collapse.

The absence of a consistent and well articulated national aviation policy, excessive bureaucracy and bad management was its waterloo.

She, therefore, navigated through the cacophony of several policies and came up with the Aviation Road map.

The Road-map provided the institutional framework for the provision of infrastructure, monitoring and control of the industry.

The involvement of aviation stakeholders in producing the policy predictably resulted in unanimous adoption, which has cumulated in several projects completed and on-going in the industry.

Meanwhile, the extended Departures Halls feature 5 nos state –of-the-art screening machines and 2 nos Body Scanner at each of the wings in addition 30 nos new immigration counters.

A distinguishing feature of the new screening machines is the ability to detect explosive materials and potential threat items real time with the lowest rate of false alarm.

The introduction of 30 nos new immigration counters as against the previous 9 nos promises to take the face of facilitation in MMA to another level. 

Also inspected were the newly installed in-bound baggages reclaim carousels at each of the Arrivals Halls.

The high- speed carousels are smooter, easier – to- maintain and more resistant to luggage jams than their decades – old predecessors.

This translates into accelerated baggage retrieval, reduced waiting – time and improved travel experience.

Highlight of the visit was the inspection of the on-going construction of 2 new additional fingers as well as new Transit Facilities.

The visit afforded journalists the opportunity to appreciate, first hand, the cause of some leakages experienced at the Terminal some time ago.

Briefing the Minister, the Director of Maintenance and Engineering & Engineer Femi Ogunode, acting managing director of FAAN,  explained that the construction work on the new Fingers affected the sealant on the existing Terrance on which the Fingers are built, resulting in dripping of water in some sections of the Terminal.

He said measures have been put in place to check the so-called leakages, promising that services levels in the airport will continue to be tailored to passengers needs.

The two new additional Fingers located on the 2nd level of the Terminal building and each measuring 3,074 sq m, and seating atop the existing Fingers represent a major capacity increase with all the attendant benefits.

Hitherto, arriving and departing passengers made common use of the Fingers, although with a glass partition separating them. With the new development, each of the two new Fingers will be exclusively for Departures while the existing ones will be dedicated to Arrivals, thus enhancing safety, security, and facilitation.

The Transit Facility, located on the 3rd floor of the Terminal building, features 9 standard lounge, and 20 hotel rooms for transiting passengers’ Transit Facility is a major requirement for a hub operations. With this development, MMA is set for a sub –regional hub status in line with President Goodluck Jonathan’s vision.