Agency Report
Captain Musa Nuhu, director general (DG) of the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) says the country needs more than N1.5 trillion to fix the airport infrastructure gap.
He said the statistics are according to the African Development Bank report in 2019.
The DG made the declaration on Tuesday in Ikeja when he spoke with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).
According to him, paucity of funds, and security challenges are some of the problems making night flights impracticable in Nigeria.
He said poor airport infrastructures also contributed to the challenges faced in night flight operations in the country.
Nuhu explained that any airport planning to operate beyond dusk required a large financial outlay and compliance with important conditions for safe landing and take-off of aircraft.
He listed some of the conditions as the provision of an adequate number of competent personnel, adequate power supply, and availability of ancillary service providers, among others.
The NCAA boss said security risks and traffic levels were other challenges associated with 24 hours airport operations in the country, according to NAN.
“All manners of security risks including kidnapping, robbery, and others are evolving rapidly in many parts of the country.
“The evolving security challenges make night operations dangerous because many airports, by reason of construction and operational requirements are located mostly on the outskirts of towns.
“The risks are enormous and seriously impacting on airports’ operations, airport workers and passengers and crew even in the daytime.
“Available data show that the levels of passenger and traffic activities are not financially viable or self-sustaining to operate a majority of the airports beyond the sunset,’’ Nuhu said.
The NCAA’s boss spoke with NAN on the side-line of the just-concluded 26th Annual Conference of the League of Airport and Aviation Correspondents.
The conference had: “Sunset Airports: Economic and Safety Implications’’ as its theme.
Nuhu also listed airport and Air Navigation Services infrastructure, search-and-rescue, and airline capacity as some of the safety implications of Sunset to Sunrise airports.
He said that the high risk of accidents during night operations at airports due to inadequate power supply from primary and secondary sources was daunting.
Capt. Nuhu added that night operations at airports depended majorly on functional and appropriately calibrated landing aids and serviceable automatic weather stations among other infrastructure.
He cautioned operators that a lack of essential infrastructures could lead to catastrophic consequences during night operations.
