Date: 2017-01-15

A Consulting Civil Engineer, Bashiru ATUNDE Lawal of BAL Engineering Limited says the nation has no alternative rather than to close the Nnamdi Azikwe International Airport , ABUJA for the period of six weeks when rehabilitation work will be carried out at the runway of the airport.

Engineer Lawal made this disclosure today in Ilorin , the Kwara State capital while reacting to the planned closure of the ABUJA airport to give way for the rehabilitation of the runway during an interview with newsmen.

The civil engineer said there was no way a major rehabilitation or construction work would be carried out all over the world in an airport, that diversion of flights would not happen more so in an airport or a nation like Nigeria that has no alternative runway.

Engineer Lawal who is the Managing Director of BAL Engineering Limited added that there was no how such projects would be carried out on a runway that local or international flights would be allowed to land or take off more so that pilots do not want the sight of any object on the runway.

He therefore appealed to Nigerians to bear and be patient with the Federal Government to complete the rehabilitation work so as to avert any calamity or aviation disaster warning that the runway project must have outlived its life span though, called for a moderate cost and a standard project .

According to him, the diversion of fights from the Nnamdi Azikwe Airport to Kaduna Airport would enable the government to repair the Kaduna - ABUJA road and provide more security to passengers plying the highway.

Answering another question , Engineer Lawal called on all tiers of government to declare a state of emergency on Nigerian roads as done in the education sector lamenting that almost all roads across the country are in a state of disrepair and have completely failed.

The Consulting Civil Engineer also suggested to the government to put in place an enabling law that will check the excesses of drivers on our highways particularly the heavy vehicles that carry loads beyond their capacities .

Engineer Lawal advocated for a replica of the then Directorate of Food Roads and Rural Infrastructure (DFRRI) project that would specifically take care of rural roads thereby allowing the rural dwellers particularly farmers to bring in their farm produce without much stress.