By Sam Adurogboye
Writing on this topic is a difficult decision, as it is not a subject that will
attract applause; instead, it may generate hatred and enmity. Why, going ahead, one may want to ask? Well, the reason is that not many would like to tread on that path, and as such, the truth about this subject may never be told. All we have been hearing or reading has always been from the proponents of new airports. Don’t get me wrong. The airport is good in itself. The question this write-up seeks to address is simply, who needs these new airports springing up in almost all the states in Nigeria?
By way of dictionary definition, an airport is a specialised, certified type of aerodrome equipped with infrastructure for commercial air transport (terminals, customs, control towers). While an aerodrome is any location [land or water] used for aircraft take-off and landing.
Essentially, all airports are aerodromes, but not all aerodromes [such as small airstrips or private airfields] are airports.
The key differences between an aerodrome and an airport are that an aerodrome is the broad technical term for any location where flight operations occur, including runways and private airstrips, while an airport is a specialised, certified and often publicly used aerodrome.
Secondly, an aerodrome may only have a landing strip or grass runway, while airports include extensive infrastructure – terminals, passenger services, hangars, and a control tower.
Thirdly, airports are where government institutions such as Customs, Immigration, Narcotic Agents, like the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, etc., are located, while aerodromes are local or privately owned facilities without such luxury.
To establish an airport, therefore, the regulatory body, the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority, must be notified. The processes began with the payment of the appropriate fees to the authority by the prospective owner.
Inspections are carried out, and the go-ahead is obtained before the commencement of work or declined if the site is considered not suitable. The regulatory authority, the NCAA, continues with its supervisory roles from the beginning to the end. Final approval is also given upon completion and total fulfilment of the mandatory requirement as contained in the Nigeria Civil Aviation Regulations (NCARs 2015).
The regulatory requirements, if I may add, include Aerodrome Certification, Production of Aerodrome Manual, Safety Management System must be in place, emergency response planning for the aerodrome must be ready, demonstration of compliance to the authority security programme and, of course, employment of qualified skilled manpower in sufficient numbers and the training programme for such personnel must be designed and tendered for approval.
Apart from the regulatory requirements, it is important to know that airport construction is capital-intensive in view of the fact that the construction comes with the installation of all the required navigational aids. These Navaids are manufactured and supplied by the manufacturer from overseas on order by the airport owner.
Before an airport is thrown open for flight operations, the construction involves a heavy capital outlay, which several states in Nigeria are not able to shoulder. This often informed the transfer of ownership from the state to the Federal Government in the past. Once that transfer is done, FG in turn pushed its management to the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria. In this case, FAAN, an agency of the FG, has no say in whether it can be managed.
Of all the airports in Nigeria as of today, only the ones in Lagos, Kano, Abuja and Port Harcourt can fend for themselves, resource-wise. The revenue generated by the Murtala Muhammed Airport is being used to maintain almost all other airports in Nigeria, to its detriment. In the sense that facility breakdown occurs at the MMA with challenges in raising funds to effect repairs, which should not have been the case if not for its overburdened state.
The new airports coming up now will soon tow that line of transfer because the existing ones are not being fully utilised and as such not able to generate resources for their maintenance, not to mention making a profit. Once an airport is not able to meet its regulatory requirements, chances are that it may be shut down by the NCAA. It had happened in the past on account of failure to provide adequate fire cover for the airport, just to mention one of the sore points.
It took the operations of Overland Airways, an indigenous and privately owned airline, for some Airports to be in use currently. Some airports stand the risk of being outgrown with weeds on account of no flight operations in and out of the place.
Flying from one point to the other, which remains the safest, fastest and most comfortable means of transport, is also the most expensive and therefore not attractive to the mass populace.
So, when the next time you hear of a new airport to be built, the question to be answered should be, in whose interest when the existing ones are being transferred to FG? While some are grossly underutilised?
Adurogboye is a former General Manager of Public Affairs at the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority
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