FAAN debunks ‘no safety procedures claim’ at Kaduna airport

Reps clear airport safe for passengers
The Managing Director of Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), Saleh Dunoma, has debunked claims by the House of Representatives that safety procedures are not followed at the Kaduna Airport.

Speaking while conducting members of the House Committee on Aviation to inspect facilities at the airport, he said there was no arrangement that has not been put in place with regard to safety.

He stated that despite the congestion at the terminal building, FAAN had been operating with what is on ground even though they would have preferred a bigger facility.

He said: “As far as we are concerned, the facility is okay even though we would have loved a bigger facility because of the number of passengers passing through it. Abuja and Kaduna passengers are combined within the facility meant for Kaduna passengers only but we are managing it.”

Meanwhile, the House Committee Chairman on Aviation, Nkiru Onyejocha, has expressed concern over capacity of the terminal building to accommodate the huge passengers traffic, adding that there was need to finish construction work on the building.

She said: “We are concerned about safety of passengers. Generally speaking, we have come and seen and we hope they will do more to ensure comfort and safety of the passengers as we have been assured that work would be completed at the airport within the next two weeks.”

Speaking on the observations of the House members that safety procedures were not followed at the airport, Onyejocha said: “I won’t deceive anyone, at least they have achieved minimum standard.”

Besides, Dunoma, who disclosed that new airspace facilities installed at the airport were being replicated in Enugu Airport and would be deployed to 11 airports in the country, insisted that they have not abandoned any of them.

He said work had slowed down in some of the terminal buildings because of lack of funds.

Also, the Managing Director of the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA), Captain Fola Akinkootu, who was also on the inspection tour of the airport, said 11 airports were listed in the programme.

He listed the equipment to include the CCR equipment, approach light, configuration of the power system around the runway and the installation of NAMA equipment.