By our reporter| President Muhammadu Buhari on Tuesday commissioned a new terminal at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Lagos and the Dangote fertilizer plant in Ibeju Lekki.
The new MMIA Terminal is expected to handle 20 million passengers a year.
It comprises of a four-storey Main Terminal Building, three-storey Finger Building, two-storey Cargo Terminal Building, 82,925sqm apron, and external and ancillary works.
The terminal also has about 60 sets of check-in counters and six boarding bridges.
The terminal is one of five being built in Lagos, Abuja, Port Harcourt, Kano, and Enugu, in a bilateral arrangement between Nigeria and China.
The ones in Abuja and Port Harcourt have been completed and commissioned already, while that of Kano has been completed and will soon be commissioned.
The new terminal is built on a land mass of approximately 56,000 square metres.
Other facilities in the terminal include five baggage collection carousels, 16 Immigration desks at arrival, 28 Immigration desks at departure, eight security screening points, two food courts, four premium lounges, 22 guest rooms and spa, 16 airline ticketing offices, visa on arrival and port health facility, as well as praying area, more than 3,000 square metres of duty-free space, approximately 5,000 square metres of lettable utility space, amongst others.
The new terminal is expected to generate about 3,000 direct and indirect employment for Nigerians, as well as enhance passenger facilitation and comfort at the Lagos airport.
The Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria will also sign a memorandum of understanding with the Lagos State Government on the 9km Airport-Shasha-Alimosho link Road to be constructed by the State Government.
“It is with great pleasure that I am here today to perform the official commissioning of the newly constructed terminal building at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport Lagos,” the President said at the terminal commissioning on Tuesday.
“This event is an eloquent testimony to the strong commitment of our administration to the development of world class infrastructure across all sectors of the Nigerian economy.
“Our continuous investment in the building of long-lasting infrastructure in the aviation sector, road and rail transportation, agriculture, telecommunications, and other critical sectors is yielding massive results and the people of Nigeria are now increasingly attesting to the benefitting from the associated dividends.
President Muhammadu Buhari also commissioned the Dangote Fertiliser Plant in the nation’s bid to attain self-sufficiency in food production and create more jobs for its citizens.
He inaugurated the multi-billion dollars facility sited in Ibeju-Lekki, Lagos, at an event well attended by many political, traditional, and religious leaders, as well as captains of industries from various parts of the country.
They include the President of the Senate, Ahmad Lawan; Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila; Chairman of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum, Kayode Fayemi; as well as members of the forum including Babajide Sanwo-Olu (Lagos), Darius Ishaku (Taraba), and Badaru Abubakar.
President of Dangote Group, Aliko Dangote; Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele; former Lagos State Governor, Bola Tinubu, as well as the Vice-Chairman of Channels Media Group, Mrs. Olusola Momoh, were among the dignitaries present at the event.
In his speech before commissioning the facility, President Buhari was delighted that the plant would further advance his administration’s drive towards achieving self-sufficiency in food production in the country.
“I commend the Chairman, Board, and Management of Dangote Industries Limited for their business initiative in building this plant to reduce our dependence on importation of fertiliser, create jobs on a massive scale, increase the inflow of foreign exchange and accelerate economic growth,” he said.
“This new plant is a testament to the widely acknowledged patriotism of Aliko Dangote and the leadership of Dangote Industries Limited. It also demonstrates their commitment to the socio-economic development of our country and the wellbeing of our people.
“I am confident that the investment in this plant will replicate the group’s earlier exploit in the cement sector where Dangote Cement holds the enviable record as our continent’s largest cement producer with footprints in 10 other African countries. The group’s investment in integrated cement plants, spanning the value chain from quarry to bagging has effectively ended Nigeria’s dependence on imported cement products.”
According to the President, Dangote Industries Limited, along with several other subsidiaries, has created thousands of jobs across the country.
He described the company as the second biggest employer of labour in Nigeria after the Federal Government, stressing the importance of job creation by private sector operators to national security.
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