Posted by By Kenneth Ehigiator& Bose Adejumo on
LAGOS - THE collision of an Air France airliner with a herd of cows at Port Harcourt International Airport could have been averted, if shrines of communities around the facility had not prevented erection of perimeter fencing of the aerodrome.
LAGOS - THE collision of an Air France airliner with a herd of cows at Port Harcourt International Airport could have been averted, if shrines of communities around the facility had not prevented erection of perimeter fencing of the aerodrome.
Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) Public Affairs Head, Alhaji Adamu Abdullahi, speaking in Lagos yesterday, also said Port Harcourt International Airport Manager and his entire team had been summoned to Lagos for questioning over the incident.
Alhaji Adamu said the airport was surrounded by shrines of local communities, adding that efforts by FAAN to protect the airport by fencing had over time been resisted by the affected communities.
According to him, "management, led by the managing director, met with His Excellency, Governor Peter Odili, of Rivers State, and traditional rulers in the area to intervene to enable us build a perimeter fencing around the airport.
"ICAO has set 2006 as the year for airports around the world to be protected by perimeter fencing. Of all our international airports, only the Lagos airport is fenced. That of Kano is partially fenced, while Port Harcourt and Abuja have no perimeter fencing at all."
Adamu said FAAN would need at least N3 billion to fence the three remaining international airports, just as he noted that plans were also on to build perimeter fencing around all of the nation's airports.
He said the FAAN team equally discussed with the Rivers State Government the construction of an alternative runway for the Port Harcourt International Airport to cater for increased volume of traffic into the airport.
To avert a recurrence of the incident, Adamu said FAAN had taken other corrective measures other than the shoot on sight order given by Aviation Minister, Mallam Isa Yuguda, in Port Harcourt last week.
One of the measures, he added, was to ensure patrol of the airfield at every half hour, especially when landing was expected.
Adamu said cattle rearers around the airport had been asked to stay clear of the airport environment to prevent their cattles being killed or impounded.
He said the airport manager and his team had also been invited to Lagos for questioning, saying, however, that the team did the best they could to prevent what happened.
On the power outage that affected the airport at the time of the incident, the FAAN scribe blamed the development on the lack of co-ordination among the personnel on duty that night, stressing that anyone found wanting after ongoing investigation into the matter would be dealt with.
Adamu also announced waivers on landing and parking charges for Air France in view of the damage suffered by the airline's Airbus A330 which was involved in the incident.