For rising to the responsibility of intervening in the planned closure of Abuja international Airport by the Aviation sector; the Nigerian Society of Engineers (NSE) has hailed the President of the Senate, Dr. Bukola Saraki and the entire leadership of the Senate for being proactive.
The NSE also expressed strong feelings that the proposed closure of the airport would have phenomenal and devastating impact on the Nigerian economy.
It further tasked President Muhammadu Buhari to appoint core professionals in the handling of infrastructural projects so as to strengthen his Change Agenda.
It would be recalled that the Senate invited the Minister of Transport, Rotimi Ameachi and Minister of State for Aviation, Hadi Sirika to explain the rationale behind the plan to close the Abuja Airport.
Sirika stated that there was no other alternatives than to shutdown the Airport for six weeks.
The Senate President, Bukola Saraki had, however, shifted the briefing session till Tuesday, insisting that the Nigerian Society of Engineers (NSE) and other major stakeholders in the renovation be invited for questioning.
At a press conference held during the week, NSE kicked against the plan to close the Abuja Airport for six weeks, saying such plan was not an option as there are engineering acceptable ways of carrying out such maintenance while operations continue.
“NSE recognizes and praises the effort of the leadership of NASS in driving the transport sector reforms and would like to encourage the executive government to key in”, Otis Anyeji, NSE President noted.
He further called on President Muhammadu Buhari to appoint competent and professionally exposed Nigerian engineers to head engineering/infrastructure ministries as a way of strengthening the change agenda.
One of the options advanced by the engineers is that the federal government should immediately commence work on the second runway of the airport.
Besides, NSE argued that, shutting down the airport would be tantamount to shutting down the nation’s economy, which is already going through turbulence.
“The aviation sector is part of Nigeria’s transportation network and contributes significantly to the socioeconomic growth of Nigeria. Any disruption in the operations of this sector, particularly at an international airport that connects Nigeria to the rest of the world, has huge impacts on the economy,” the NSE Boss warned.
Anyaeji explained that shutting down the only runway will create enormous ripple effects for all the passengers and cargo traffic flowing in and out of the airport which is an airport hub, adding that in far worse scenarios, committed efforts have kept airports operational while maintenance/repairs are ongoing.
Commenti