Members of the House of Representatives have described the Kaduna International Airport as a big disaster that is waiting to happen.
The members flayed the aviation ministry for allowing operations at the airport, saying that the airport fell short of the safety standards for both domestic and international flight operations.
The aviation ministry announced diversion of flights to KadunaAirport following the temporal closure of Abuja Airport due to the ongoing repairs of the runways.
But on Thursday, after flying to the airport into Kaduna, lawmakers slammed the aviation ministry.
“God forbid that an aircraft should drop from the skies due to our own errors. This is what we should not pray to happen.
“It can happen to anybody. Safety standards are not being adhered to at the airport,” Chairman, House Committee on Loan, Aids and Debt Management, Mr. Adeyinka Ajayi, told his colleagues while moving a motion.
Ajayi, moved a motion on the need for aviation authorities to keep to their promises of maintaining safety standards in Kaduna prior to the closure of the Abuja airport.
Ajayi also said ramp marking rules were abused at the airport as they were “violated by unauthorised users, who go right through the ramp marks.”
He added, “Aircraft manoeuvring and parking space is allegedly inadequate to accommodate the high number of aircraft now operating in and out of the airport.
“Further disturbed that some aviation marketers have been allegedly transferring Jet A-1 fuel from bulk road tankers directly into bowers right on the tarmac and discharging same into aircraft.
“All of these poses a lot of danger to passengers and aircraft safety.”
The Chairman, Committee on Foreign Relations, Ms. Nnenna Ukeje, on her part noted that the lives of passengers and aircraft were exposed to danger at the Kaduna airport.
Ukeje, a member of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, recalled how she spent close to two hours after landing at the airport, struggling to access luggage and eventually exiting the environment.
“The Kaduna airport experiment has obviously failed,” she stated.
Also, Hassan Saleh representing Ogbadibo, Ado and Okpokwu, told the House that he had been to the airport and that all he could see was “total disappointment. It is a disaster waiting to happen.”
Saleh noted, “Security measures at that airport have collapsed. You could see that the security personnel are even overwhelmed by the crowds.
“They no longer conduct full security checks because of the huge crowds.”
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