Nigerian government to shut down Enugu airport

Hadi Sirika, minister of state for aviation, says the Akanu Ibiam Airport in Enugu will be shut down due to security reasons.

Speaking on Friday at the stakeholders’ forum in Lagos, the minister listed the security challenges at the airport to include bad runway, proximity to a market and the wrong location of the state’s radio mast.

He said the challenges pose a great risk to lives, hence the need to shut down the airport.

He appealed to the state government to remove the market and radio masts.

The minister also said the government had contracted Julius Berger to renovate Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA) in Lagos at the project cost of N14bn.

“The Lagos airport was built to handle N200,000 people but today Lagos airport is handling eight million people. So it must collapse. Julius Berger will help give it the new look it requires,” he said.

“The airport generates most of the income, so it is only right we give it facelift it requires.”

He said the new Lagos airport terminal will be completed by the end of the year so some airport operators will be moved to the new terminal.