By Tobi Adetunji
The Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) says it will resolve in six months all contract issues delaying the installation of 18Left Runway Lighting at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Lagos.
The Managing Director of FAAN, Capt. Rabiu Yadudu, disclosed this after an inspection tour with the Director General of the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), Capt. Musa Nuhu, in Lagos.
Yadudu said the Minister of Aviation, Sen. Hadi Sirika, had graciously accepted to resolve the protracted contract issues and he agreed to grant them approval to quickly procure a new lighting system.
The managing director explained that after the runway contract issue had been resolved, the documents would be completed and it would procure and install the Air Field Lighting (AFL) equipment in six months.
“You know FAAN is a government agency; we cannot work and procure a new project when there is an existing one on the same facility.
“So many things are delayed not because of negligence or lack of attention but because you have to follow due process.
“On the 18Left Runway light that has been an ongoing issue for almost a decade and half, a solution is in sight as agreements have been reached in principle.
“We are only waiting for approval so we can procure a new lighting system and install within six months.
“So it was not negligence or lack of attention because as a government agency, FAAN had to follow due process,” he said.
The managing director said that the AFL was an important project and more critical, adding that the Taxiway Bravo had attained 95 per cent completion.
He said for the last two years, since he became FAAN MD, the airfield lighting on runway 18L lighting and then Taxiway Bravo had been his primary targets.
Yadudu thanked God that the Taxiway Bravo was 95 per cent done, adding that they just came for the inspection because it had been achieved.
He said they would not recognize the Taxiway Bravo from the normal taxiway that was overridden with grass and a lot of shrubs.
Similarly The Federal Executive Council presided over by the President, Muhammadu Buhari on Wednesday approved about N89.6billion worth of contracts under the Ministries of Works and Housing and Aviation.
It also okayed the Draft National Policy on the over 2.3 million Internally Displaced Persons in Nigeria.
The Minister of Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola, disclosed these to State House correspondents alongside the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs Disaster Management and Social Development, Sadiya Farouk; and Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina.
He said that FEC approved the contract for the dualisation of the Odukpani-Itu-Ikot Ekpene road for the sum of N79.649bn.
Fashola explained that the approved contract also covered the section from Oku Iboku Power Plant to Abak which runs for about 26 kilometre stretch.
He said, “Council approved the award to Messers Sematech Nigeria Ltd. for N79.649bn to be executed over 16 months.”