Keyamo defends plan to remodel Lagos airport project with N712bn, says terminal is “decrepit and smelly”

Festus Keyamo, minister of aviation and aerospace development, has defended the federal government’s plan to remodel Terminal One of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA) in Lagos with N712 billion, saying the plan is to meet global aviation standards.

Keyamo, who appeared on Channels Television’s Sunday Politics, described the existing terminal, built over 40 years ago, as outdated and deteriorating.

“The roof of the airport is leaking; the place is decrepit and smelly. You see people selling Indomie and all kinds of kiosks erected there. The ceilings are failing, and the carousels are not working because their parts are not in the market anymore,” the Minister said.

Although the project approval has drawn criticism amidst high inflation, hunger, and economic hardship, Keyamo clarified that the funding will not come from the national budget.

Keyamo said “It is not a budgetary kind of expenditure. It is from the special infrastructure fund,” adding, it will be financed through the Renewed Hope Infrastructural Funding and completed in 22 months.

He opined that without modernisation, international airlines could abandon Nigerian routes.

“Without this, some international airlines will threaten to stop flight to your country when you don’t have a good airport, a good runway… insurance will go up because they will say that place is not safe to fly to,” he added.

Keyamo maintained that the goal is to transform Lagos into a competitive aviation hub, adding “As it is today, you cannot land in Lagos (local airport) and try to connect to an international flight, maybe to Ghana.”

“What we are trying to do in Lagos now is to make Lagos a very modern airport and create a proper hub to begin to compete with other hubs in Africa. So, we want to completely pull down Terminal One.

“It is not a refurbishment; we are tearing it down, only the pillars will remain, the carcass, the decking. Everything will go, and they are going to redesign now,” the Minister emphasized.