Man at Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport
Representative image Reuters / Afolabi Sotunde

The Federal Government is all set to temporarily shut down the old terminal of Murtala Muhammed Airport (MMIA), located in Lagos, for renovation and directed all the international airlines to land on the new terminal from Oct. 1.

The airport consists of two terminals - International and Cargo terminals. While MMIA was inaugurated 15 months ago, it is still deserted due to parking space and other issues. When the airport was originally designed in 2013, it didn't have a provision for parking.

Festus Keyamo, who serves as Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development of Nigeria, disclosed this information on Thursday while inspecting facilities at the Lagos airport.

Keyamo, who was accompanied by the Managing Director of Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) Kabir Yusuf Mohammed alongside other aviation stakeholders, said that "major complaints of Nigerians or foreigners coming into the country have been with this old terminal," Vanguard reported.

He went on to explain that the "place is an eyesore" for everyone, adding that "the lifts are not working, the entrance is unwelcoming. Airconditioning systems are not effective, among other things."

The Aviation Minister pointed out that the newly inaugurated terminal, built by the Chinese, is under-utilised, adding that even he is not sure why it was designed in a way that doesn't allow big planes to enter.

Minister Keyamo explained that the facility lacks Avio bridges that help to connect big planes, noting that this is also a "challenge," due to which the terminal is not being used yet.

"It would interest you that, 60 per cent of FAAN's revenue comes in from the Lagos gateway. It is one of the major gateways into the country," he continued. "So, what is the solution to this? I have said we must use what we have for now."

He suggested that the international airlines, and every other company utilizing the facility should move to terminal 2 from the old terminal so that the government can do a temporary shutdown of the old terminal and renovate it.

He added, "Like many other countries, we are going to do emergency procurement to buy the big buses and move them to where the big planes stop in an orderly fashion, both arrival and departure so that you can have some kind of comfort with this new facility."

Furthermore, the government plans to find a way to build Avio bridges to ensure that big planes can enter the terminal. Aside from this, the minister also noted that the Nigeria Air project has been suspended until further notice.