Nigeria

National carrier: FG pledges commitment to construct 2nd runway

Friday, September 13, 2019 at 8:49 AM by Onyirioha Nnamdi

- The federal government has expressed its unreserved commitment for the establishment of Nigeria Air, the proposed national carrier

- The minister of aviation, Hadi Sirika, said that plans for the construction of a second runway at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport are underway

- Sirika also said that provisions for the construction of the runway are covered in the 2019 national budget

Hadi Sirika, the minister of aviation, on Thursday, September 12, revealed that the federal government has expressed in strong terms its commitment to establish Nigeria Air, the country's proposed national carrier.

According to Sirika, this is as the advisory committee for the establishment of Nigeria Air has forwarded its final report to the federal government, Vanguard reports.

Speaking in Abuja to executive officers of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association on Thursday, Sirika stated that plans and provision for the construction of a second runway at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport are underway and are also covered in the 2019 national budget.

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The minister said: "The second runway project is in the budget and it will be procured by God’s grace. The national carrier is in the pipeline and in the next one hour, I will be meeting with the transaction advisers.

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"They are in town and they have concluded their baseline studies and we are moving to the next stage. So that is also on course.”

Meanwhile, Legit.ng reported that the federal government had given approval to the Ebonyi state government to construct an international airport in Abakaliki, the state capital.

The approval followed a request by the Ebonyi state government and subsequent visit to the proposed site by the technical team from the federal ministry of transportation and its agencies.

Legit.ng gathered that the state government was sent an approval letter by the safety and technical policy department of the federal ministry of transportation.