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Minister of Aviation, Senator Hadi Sirika, has insisted that Nigeria Air will fly before the tenure of President Muhammadu Buhari ends.
He said this Wednesday while fielding questions from State House reporters after the weekly Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting presided over by President Buhari at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
Sirika said all arrangements had been put in place for the take-off of the national carrier.
When asked if Nigeria Air was still feasible about one month to the end of the administration, the minister said: “Nigeria Air Limited, I did say that we will get it going before the end of this administration and I have not withdrawn my words. We have everything in place, the aircraft are in place, the offices, operational centres, the staffing and everything that we need to have in place. We’re doing the last-minute checks and waiting for the issuance of the AOC and it will fly.
“Certainly, the FAAN building was there, even before Egbon Lai Mohammed joined the FAAN. So, it was a transit camp, the FAAN office is transit camp for the people that built the airport, it’s made out of wood and some panels as a makeshift office and this is what FAAN has been using on a very prime property and it’s not befitting for the FAAN Lagos office, it’s only waste of space, and it caught fire twice, once during our administration.
“So, we thought that that place should leave so that we can erect offices, shopping malls, cinemas, and the rest of it. Airports are no longer places where you take over land. You all go to Dubai, you all go to other places and see how they are, so certainly and definitely government would remove those wood structures, housing FAAN’s office now and erect among the aerotropolis components; offices, shopping malls, hotels, car parks and the rest of it, befitting of the nation, Nigeria and befitting of the city of Lagos.”
