A few
years ago, the Federal Government of Nigeria shut down the Port Harcourt
International Airport to carry out what they called repairs or was it
renovation? It was supposed to be an exercise for a few weeks, but it
took more than an entire year. Flights were diverted to an airport in
the city at great cost to travellers, but the so-called renovation took
forever.
The Port Harcourt airport became a
grazing field for cows, at other times, a vehicle-driving field, and for
more than one year, travel to Port Harcourt, one of Nigeria’s most
strategic cities was a nightmare. Each time the Nigerian government
talks about fixing the airports, using the words, renovation,
rehabilitation or reform, it is better to be cynical.
The Sam Mbakwe Airport in Owerri, for
example, was once touted as a major hub in the South East, and
government spent so much money turning it into an international cargo
airport for the East, but that same airport soon became flooded during
the rainy season and planes could no longer land.
Both the Port Harcourt and Owerri
airports are currently in a permanent state of renovation. The lives of
those who wanted to renovate them at any level whatsoever are ironically
and scandalously, imaginably better renovated. The airports failed, the
managers smiled to the banks. In those two airports, travellers were
put through enormous strain because the entire airports or sections had
to be shut down. But the people, expectant as they were had no choice in
the matter.
The Nigerian government is so powerful;
the people are helpless. The same government the people elect with their
votes punishes them unjustly. The people themselves behave as if they
are in bondage. This was what happened in particular when the Port
Harcourt Airport was being renovated. Travellers were abused. Airlines
subjected them to enormous indignity. Businesses suffered. Government
failed to keep its promise. The airlines and their staff even became
arrogant, failing to realize they were victims too. They treated
customers shabbily and there was no way anyone could blame them when
government itself was uncaring.
Looked at differently, the biggest
problem is not necessarily the politicians and their appointees who
sashay in and out of power, but the civil servants who run the engine
room of government and who over the years have perfected a culture of
graft and incompetence. They look the other way when politicians
dismantle the rules, often times out of sheer cruelty and for the better
part, the political leaders are guided to do so by the civil servants.
Which department of government is responsible for the maintenance of
airports?: The Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria (FAAN).
I believe everybody in that agency
should be lined up and caned publicly and investigated according to the
law. Should they have any stories to tell about the poor state of
Nigerian airports, despite the enormous amounts that are budgeted
yearly, they should tell us as each stroke of the cane descends on their
buttocks. I don’t consider corporal punishment a tool of governance, so
I speak metaphorically, but the rot in the aviation section is so
terrible, a feeling of outrage commands something extraordinary. Weigh
that against the plane crashes, loss of lives, and the agony of air
travel just because some incompetents have had to superintend over
Nigeria’s aviation sector.
I am this outraged because a sad story
is about to repeat itself. The Federal Government of Nigeria is
proposing to shut down the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport in
Abuja, beginning March 8, for six weeks: to build a second runway and to
carry out renovations. During the period, flights will be diverted to
Kaduna Airport and passengers will be required to travel by rail or road
to Abuja. The excuse is that the runway in Abuja is almost collapsing.
The life span of a runway is 20 years and this particular runway in
Abuja has been there for 34 years.
Politicians come and go but one
significant fellow has suddenly woken up in either the FAAN or the
Ministry of Aviation and a proposal has been submitted for renovation.
And that proposal is now causing so much commotion. All the characters
responsible for this costly neglect and delay should be lined up and
sanctioned, and that should include a thorough investigation into the
possibility of this “new” project having being proposed, budgeted for
and cash-backed before now. At what point did it occur to FAAN that the
airport needs a second runway, and who is the brain behind the
hair-brained proposal that is now before the public?
Poor thinking is the enemy of good governance.
We have been told that for six weeks,
flights will be diverted to the Kaduna airport. The Minister of State
for Aviation (by the way, who is the Minister of Aviation?) has been
quoted saying he wants “knowledge” as to how this can be managed. The
Ministry has also summoned a meeting of stakeholders after taking the
decision. This has been a classic case of acting before thinking, making
it all appear ridiculous.
The international airlines are insisting
that they find this kind of thinking inconvenient. Truly so: Local
airline operators are not excited either. The National Association of
Nigeria Travel Agencies (NANTA) and the Airline Operators of Nigeria
(AON) are protesting.
Common sense, a scarce commodity at this
time, should have dictated that a meeting of stakeholders should have
been held before the decision was taken. But the arrogant
position-holders took the decision first and then decided to invite the
stakeholders as an afterthought. Ask these questions: is there an
ulterior motive? Ignore common sense and present the public with a fait
accompli? Is that their plan? Is politics, in the shape of further
Northernization involved? And why? Make Kaduna a new hub? Shift aviation
travel further North?
The failure to maintain runways and
observe best practices is a reflection of the Nigerian problem: our
national nonsense. Besides, Nigeria is forever a victim of last minute
decisions. We remember to think when it appears too late to do so.
Conspiracy theories are thus enabled when those who should act rightly
behave as if they are busy thinking with their orifices.
Get it: The decision to shut down the
Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport in Abuja and move traffic to the
Kaduna airport for six weeks has not been properly thought through. Poor thinking is the enemy of good governance.
There is no guarantee to start with, that the renovation and
rehabilitation can be completed in six weeks. Remember Port Harcourt and
Owerri. We have been told nevertheless, that this is a good decision.
But the timing is unwise. We are moving
passengers to Kaduna at a time that same state and city is in turmoil.
Thousands are being slaughtered daily in Southern Kaduna. The crisis has
both religious and ethnic undertones. And now we are moving more
Nigerians to the North, so they can get killed at the airport on or
their way to Abuja? Who in his or her right senses would like to travel
through Kaduna at this time?
A standard travel advisory should be:
travel through Kaduna at your own risk and commit possible suicide. And
to this: let no paid vuvuzela tell me the roads are safe and that the
rail line to Abuja does not pass through Southern Kaduna.
Also consider this: Government says it
will provide buses. Who will bear the cost? Traveling from wherever to
Kaduna to reach Abuja is likely to be more costly in every sense. Will
the airlines bear the cost? Or the already aggrieved travellers will be
subjected to extra cost and pain? Foreign airliners have already
rejected the Kaduna airport. It is by every international standard a
poor airport. It can’t even accommodate a crowd. Why would government
subject travellers to obvious chaos and behave as if it does not matter.
Copy this:
“The Minister of State,
Aviation, Hadi Sirika, however, said total closure of the Abuja airport
runway was inevitable, judging from the worrisome level of
dilapidation…. (I see)
The minister assured of adequate
security of travellers on transit by road from Abuja to Kaduna and vice
versa, adding that the Ministry of Defence, the Nigeria Police, National
Security and Civil Defence Corps, the Directorate of State Security and
other agencies will provide cover for airlines and passengers. (Really?)
“We’ll increase the number of
security personnel around Kaduna Metropolis; we’ll have traffic
officials in every village and intersection. There’ll be members of
National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), fire fighters and
ambulances at certain strategic positions. Police and the Air Force are
to provide aerial patrols, complemented by ground police. (Bribery and extortion loading…)
There will be intelligence
gathering. There will be bus coaches, train services, specialised car
hire services and helicopter shuttles from private operators. But
government will provide shuttles for passengers,” he assured. (Talk is cheap, truly)
This is precisely why the Ministry of
Aviation should reconsider its stand. Stakeholders including foreign
airlines should be carried along before any further step is taken and
that has to be in line with international best practices. Everybody
involved should admit that we are dealing with a Nigerian crisis.
Nigerians who travel by air don’t deserve to be punished. They have
suffered enough already. The airlines can’t even get enough aviation
fuel in Abuja, not to talk of Kaduna.
Let no one forget this: Abuja is a
strategic city. Those who travel there do so with a purpose. It is the
city of adventurers not settlers. It is the city of the Federal
Government. People go there to sort out government matters including
contracts and other matters. Shutting down the Abuja airport is like
shutting down the city, and perhaps the entire country.
The Ministry of Aviation makes it sound
as if this is inevitable, but we must tell them, and tell them again,
that the Kaduna airport is not ready and to repeat the Port Harcourt
experience in Abuja would be sad and counter-productive. It is not for
nothing that the international airlines are already protesting that they
don’t want to go to Kaduna.
The argument about fixing the runway to
make it safer is okay, and we all know why nothing is ever properly
maintained in this country, and why projects of six weeks end up taking
one year, and more, so don’t tell me the obvious, but government
decisions no matter how well-meaning, should be governed by good
thinking. A mismanaged renovation of the Abuja airport could result in
months of avoidable agony and disaster for the Nigerian economy.
Dr.
Reuben Abati was spokesman and special adviser, media and publicity to
President Goodluck Jonathan (2011 – 2015). He tweets from @abati1990.
The opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the writer.
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