Lagos Airport Fire: Stakeholders Slam FAAN, NAMA Over Handling Of Emergency

Aviation stakeholders have criticised the federal government over the diversion of international flights following the fire outbreak at the Terminal 1 of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos.
Recall that a British Airways flight was diverted to Abuja, while Lufthansa and Emirates flights were redirected to Malabo, in Equatorial Guinea.
Speaking on the development, aviation security expert, Capt. John Ojikutu (rtd), chief executive officer of Centurion Security Systems & Services Limited, faulted the decision to divert the aircraft outside the country, arguing that the runway was not obstructed and operations could have been managed locally.
“Let us speak the truth to ourselves; we are not progressing but retrogressing. Why divert international traffic to other regional countries when the runway was not blocked? What was wrong with diverting the planes to the MM1 and MM2 terminals’ aprons and transporting passengers by bus to MMIA2? Why not deploy one of NAMA’s mobile towers for Approach and Aerodrome Controls? How many international flights were involved? I am sure they could not have been more than 10. It is a shame,” he said.
Ojikutu further stated that global aviation regulatory bodies such as the International Civil Aviation Organization and the International Air Transport Association, alongside other international agencies, would be closely monitoring how Nigeria manages such emergencies.
“What we are projecting to the world in traffic management is not what ICAO and IATA expect to see. Have we all forgotten that MM2 has arrival facilities for regional flights? Did anyone check that? No, because of the existing business rivalry between FAAN and Bi-Courtney, at the expense of passenger safety.
“There were several lapses in the way the fire incident was handled. As I said, ICAO and other international aviation agencies are watching us from the sidelines,” he added.
Similarly, a former Chief Pilot of the defunct ADC Airlines, Capt. Mohammed Gbadamasi, criticised the Safety Management Systems (SMS) of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria and the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency.
According to him, the incident exposed the absence of a workable contingency plan.
“This is happening due to the failure of NAMA and FAAN’s Safety Management Systems. What happened showed that neither agency had a ‘Plan B’ in their SMS. If they had handled things differently, the outcome would have been different.
“I even heard that the airspace was closed, according to the FAAN Managing Director. Was the entire airspace actually closed? I hope this serves as a wake-up call,” he stated.