The airfield lighting systems at the domestic runway 18/36L
of Murtala Muhammad Airport, Lagos have been stolen by some yet-to-be
identified workers.
It was gathered that the workers took advantage of the
closure of the runway, which have lasted for about three months.
The equipment, which aids aircraft to take off and land at
the domestic airport at night, was installed on the 2.7 kilometres long runway
in November, 2022.
Emerging reports indicate that the incident led to massive
suspension of top officials at the Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria, FAAN,
following the directives of the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of
Aviation, Dr Emmanuel Meribole.
A source who pleaded anonymity, alleged that some FAAN
workers had connived with outsiders to steal the airport lighting equipment.
He said: “The criminal took advantage of the closure to
commit the crime. I cannot give the actual worth of the theft, but almost all
the lighting was removed.
“The permanent secretary came around to see for himself the
huge damage done. A lot of FAAN officials have been suspended.
“Investigations had since commenced to unravel those
responsible for the missing safety equipment.
“The regular incursion and stealing of safety components at
the airports are carried out by a syndicate, consisting of some workers of the
agencies, who have access to the restricted areas and accomplices from outside.
Reacting to the development, a former Military Commandant at
the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos, Group Capt. John Ojikutu,
said, “This is not new at MMA. I wish the FAAN management could go back to 1990
when similar things happened in the airport. I was convinced that it was an
‘insiders threats’. What did I do? I positioned soldiers on the runways and
ensured that no FAAN maintenance staff went near the runways for anything
without my approval; otherwise, it was shoot at first sight. It stopped
completely. Runway lightings were being stolen and my conclusion then was that
runway lightings can only be useful for runways and not roads or houses.
“Those stolen were
being sold to FAAN by the same workers. That is why I am not in support of the
unions carrying the picketing of their employers to the airport’s security
controlled areas.”
According to the Director of Public Affairs and Consumer
Protection, FAAN, Mr Yakubu Funtua, “Investigations had been launched and that
the agency would do all within its powers to avoid a reoccurrence.
“FAAN is doing all it can to get to the bottom of this. You
are very aware that there are many agencies within the airport, including the
different ones that are supposed to be taking care of security there. So, it
would be unfair to put this (the theft) on our (members of) staff and I don’t
think there is any FAAN (member of) staff that wants the agency to crash.
“Note that most of our revenue comes from Lagos. So, what
kind of staff will ‘kill the goose that lays the egg?’ However, we can’t say
exactly who did it, but we are doing all that we can to recover what is lost.
We are going to recover it because we are going to find out those people who
did it and then block all those loopholes.”
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