These are where they put unserviceable planes and I also

understand several of them went to court. I have told the MD of FAAN that all of these aircraft here that are totally unserviceable to remove them. You cannot park them perpetually on the facility of the Federal Government. We want to expand the apron and they will have three months to remove them. All those with unserviceable aircraft, we are giving them three months to take away their aircraft after which we shall be at liberty to do away with them because we want to expand our aprons. I have told the MD of FAAN to get in touch with all of those who have their unserviceable aircraft because it is our facility; they are hampering development.

I have seen reports that said we have totally shut the terminal. There are fifth columnists who are out there to misrepresent me at any point in time to make our work difficult. I said they should move and use the new terminal, that is all I have said. The new terminal that is under used, we spent a lot of money building it, we have to use it. The old terminal is a total eye sore. Since I came into office, I have heard complaints upon complaints. The central air-conditioner is not working, the carousels are not working, they break down quite often and the approach into the airport is smelly and totally unwelcoming to people coming into Nigeria and that is a gateway to Nigeria. I have given them a directive that we should completely shut it down and use the new terminal that can also take the traffic. What was the problem? I will say it again and repeat it. The problem with the old terminal is that they did not take into consideration the big airplanes that would come in and anchor with the avio-bridges that will take passengers into the arrival. The space is not enough because there are private hangar that cannot allow big aircraft to come in. That is why we are not enjoying our new terminal and the question I have asked is why would somebody approve such a project without approving the total reconstruction where the big bodies will anchor? As a stop gap measure like it is done in other countries get buses for emergency procurement so that we can in an orderly manner board and disembark passengers take them to arrival through departure to the aircraft. Over the years because you cannot shut it down and for total overhaul, they do things that are tokenistic; today, repair one light here, tomorrow remove this. It has been difficult to carry out comprehensive overhaul even for those fighting over concession now. I know that you know that they are fighting over concession over there. How can they even carry out repairs even if they win the concession? Let us get it clear, we have not order closure of anywhere. We need to find a new way to board passengers and disembark them.

The second runway that you visited?

You can see that most of the approach-light were stolen and that is why they are not using it. We got a Nigerian who was repairing the runway for us and at some point, he ran out of money and we have to pay him to finish the work. A major gateway like Lagos should have two functional runways Lagos airport generates about 60 percent of our revenue

I gave the order before October 1 that their counters should move to the new terminal. What is difficult about that? We have 60 points with the new terminal and most of them are not in use. You have those check-in counters are not in use and we are struggling with a terminal that is smelly and leaking and a complete disgrace to Nigeria. That is why I said they should move to the new terminal. I am coming with a private sector mentality.

Revenue generation

FAAN is a revenue generation agency and they have to optimize their capabilities.

Plans to enhance safety in the aviation industry

There should be very less political interference in safety matters. Don’t expect me to interfere in safety matters. That is completely in the hands of NCAA and they are totally responsible and answerable to ICAO. I am not going to interfere in safety. One of my cardinal programmes should just be to ensure that NCAA enforces their rules and regulations to the hilt; that is my duty. I will not interfere in matters of regulations.

Are you giving Nigerians the assurance that the directives that you have given thus far going round since you saw some things that you are not comfortable with will be done?

This is a simple matter. I either get sacked by Mr. President or somebody who is responsible will get sacked. It is a matter of who die first. Mr. President will sack me. The person that is not making my work easy will be fired. It is as simple as that. I owe my total loyalty to the Nigerian people and Mr. President and you know how I became a Minister. Mr. President himself pleaded at the last minute to make me a minister. So, he expects a lot from me. I want to disappoint many naysayers. They want to see me in full flight.

You said you will brief Mr. President on some matters that were handed over to you. I am responsible to the feelings of Nigerians. We have not canceled any project. We have only suspended some things that people complained about. We must be very responsible to the feelings of Nigerians. Even if something is good but not transparent, because Nigerian people must know the processes by which you give out their commonwealth. Nigerians must be aware of how you give out their commonwealth to individuals in the name of concessioning. Don’t shroud this in secrecy. Let the National Assembly who are oversighting us let them know and let them know through you that this process was transparent and we got the best deal for Nigerians and that is why I have directed that all of those concessions should be suspended until I brief Mr. President. Nigeria Air should be suspended. I have directed until I brief Mr. President to see that the process follow transparent way. That is why some people were my being appointed Aviation Minister. 90 percent of why I am here is about laws and regulations and we are interpreting it better for Nigerians to understand. Being here, I am trapped between diametrically opposed absolutes and interest. If you go here, there  people will complain, if you go to other place, that p eople will complain. That is this office. This is not my full press briefing of where I am going. For example, people have been complaining about our BASAs and the airline operators came and said you can’t come under a BASA and be hopping from one city to another picking passengers and it affects their local operations and I said fine and that I am here to protect the local operators. Infarct, it is one of my cardinal objectives because we have to develop the industry to protect and support their operations but they must give me comfort and give Nigerian people too comfort. I have told them that they are complaining about those BASA, yes, I will look at them but I told them that can they for instance get into an agreement with foreign airlines whereby you get connectivity agreement with them. Pick passengers in Kano and connect them to London and they are waiting for you and you are waiting four hours. Can they give me that comfort and let me look at those BASAs for you? If they sell 30 business class to pick passengers in Kano and connect Abuja and they are in Abuja waiting for you, can you

Pix Barrister Festus Keyamo, Minister of Aviation and Aerospace (middle) flanked by Mr Kabir Muhammed, MD, FederalAirports Authority of Nigeria (2nd left) during the tour of Murtala Muhammed International Airports, Ikeja, Lagos on Thursday. Photo