The Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja is nearing completion. According to Mr. Saleh Dunoma, Managing Director of the Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), the runway is 80 percent completed.
Dunoma stated this during an inspection tour by Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, Nigeria’s Vice President, on Friday.
He said that the project will be completed well in time before the April 19 deadline.
“The overall completion is 80 per cent as of today and the critical elements of the work that we have which are asphalt-laying and airfield lighting installation are 73 per cent and 40 per cent, respectively, completed.
“The next critical part, of course, is marking which will start on Monday.
“At the end of the day, the regulator will have to come and certify it; then, we will be ready for reopening on April 19,’’ he said.
He added that FAAN is also using the opportunity of the airport’s closure to conduct a complete rehabilitation of the terminal.
“We are seizing this opportunity of empty building to make sure that we rehabilitate the entire terminal building and that includes the facilities that are there such as mechanical, electrical and civil.
“We will get it done before the 19th and all the works there will be completed before that day.
“April 19 remains sacrosanct and we want to reassure Nigerians that come April 19, the airport will be opened,’’ he said.
The airport’s runway was constructed in 1982 with a 20-year time-frame before it would require rehabilitation, but it has been in use for 35 years before its first repair work, which required the airport to be shut for six weeks beginning from March 8, 2017.