Lagos — Stakeholders in the Nigeria aviation sector have called on the Federal Government to commence the upgrading of facilities at all the nation's airports.
Director of Operations, Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) Mr. George Uriesi, who lamented about the situation expressed displeasure on the state of airports, regretted that "not one of our airports at present can boast of having a master plan."
He said this recently at the aviation infrastructure summit held in Lagos.
The director of operations added that it was time the Federal Government understands that if airports in the country are not functioning at optimum level, economic activities in the country would suffer huge setback.
To buttress his point, he cited Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Lagos, which he said is 33 years old, but has never received any significant facelift since it was built.
On the challenges confronting the FAAN as it affects airports development, Uriesi noted that the powers of directors in the agency were limited, pointing out that the power to make airports infrastructures in Nigeria compete with 21 century standard lies in the hands of the federal government.
According to him, "there is need for the execution of a catch up programme, critical for infrastructure and facilities upgrade and replacement, as well as urgently initiate airport master planning."
The Chairman, Aviation Round Table (ART), an aviation pressure group, Captain Dele Ore, also said that facilities at the Lagos airport have been overstretched and that they needed to be upgraded.
He regretted that same goes for most other airports in the country, adding that the aircraft and passenger traffic at the various airports have grown beyond the capacity which the facilities can accommodate.
According to Ore, "MMIA has been here since 1978 when we used to have about eight international airlines, but now the numbers of these carriers have grown close to 20, if not more, and yet there has been no significant development on the structure".
Other stakeholders, who spoke on the issue, described the current state of airports infrastructures in Nigeria as appalling, condemning the neglect and abandonment of airports terminals by the government.
According to them, most airports in Nigeria were built without well structured plans, stressing that those already functioning never get adequate maintenance and upgrade as required.
Inadequate training of fire fighters for the 19 new fire fighting trucks acquired by the FAAN has been said to be threatening the Category 1 status attained last year from the United States Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).
The supplier of 10 of the fire trucks (E-ONE) has accused the FAAN of an attempt to sabotage its brand name, while the Nigerian Aviation Fire and Safety Association (NAFSA) has asked the FAAN to complete the training of its fire fighters.
Air crashes in Nigeria in 2005 and 2006 led to the procurement of the fire fighting trucks by the World Bank in 2010 and early this year.
Ten of them (Standard E1 P7) sponsored by the World Bank were acquired last year from E-ONE, a designer, manufacturer, and marketer of fire rescue vehicles with more than 23,000 in operation around the world.
E-One has its headquarters in Ocala, Florida, in the U.S.
The other nine fire fighting trucks (Modified E1 P7) were procured by the Aviation Ministry and FAAN from Kronembourg, which is based in France.
The 19 trucks have been deployed in airports across the country, and more are underway.
But these sophisticated vehicles require special maintenance and servicing arrangement for efficient and optimum benefits within their expected 35 years life circle and beyond.
It was, however, learnt that preventive and routine maintenance have not been carried out by the FAAN, although there is a budget for them by the World Bank.
The FAAN complained to the manufacturers that the fire trucks are malfunctioning.
But a letter E-ONE wrote to the FAAN Managing Director on May 4 insisted that, "Most of the faults forwarded to us were not due to product failure under warranty, but solely due to abuse, neglect, improper and no maintenance."
The letter, signed by E-ONE Regional Manager (Africa), Luke de Koker, expressed regrets that the mechanical staff and operators of FAAN have not been complying with the correct maintenance and operational procedures as no daily check sheets are kept.
Koker noted that, "No preventive and routine maintenance have been carried out on these trucks. Several of the trucks have been found with low engine oil levels, low coolant levels, and flat batteries.
"When our technician asked the fire officers why the trucks are in such a neglect state, they defended themselves by saying that they have not really used the trucks as yet and that they did not receive enough training on them.
"At a number of airports, we found a lot of tampering on the electrical system in the cab dash of the trucks. Wire insulations were cut open and left in an unprotected state, which could cause a short circuit and possible fire."
A copy of the letter, which was forwarded to the Aviation Minister and Managing Director of Praise Resources Limited, expressed displeasure that "electrical plugs and connectors within the dash were unplugged causing certain instrumentation not to function properly.
"When our technician asked the fire officers why and how it happened, no one could or wanted to answer him, which leaves us with only one reason, and that is, it has been done intentionally to sabotage the E-ONE brand name to perhaps help justify why the FAAN should not purchase any more of the trucks."
In its own letter dated June 3, NAFSA complained about the way the FAAN handled the training of fire fighters on how to operate the trucks.
The letter NAFSA President Ojeifo Lewis wrote to the FAAN Managing Director said the arrival of the trucks was expected to mark the beginning of an end to the neglect and rot in the Fire Department, "But with recent development, we are constrained to conclude that all the shortcomings faced by aerodrome rescue and fire fighting services are being deliberately imposed on it."
Lewis expressed regret that instead of comprehensive training the FAAN hurriedly trained its fire fighters for one week and commissioned the vehicles for operations.
Source: http://allafrica.com
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