Aviation: MMA2 is a success, says NAMA boss

By The Citizen

The Managing Director of the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA), Mazi Nnamdi Udoh, has described the Murtala Muhammed Airport Terminal Two (MMA2), operated by Bi-Courtney Aviation Services Limited (BASL), as a big success. Udoh said this at a dinner party organised for major stakeholders in the country's aviation industry by Bi-Courtney at the Federal Palace Hotel, Victoria Island, Lagos, at the weekend. According to him, 'any architect worth his salt looking at MMA2 will agree with me that the design is something else; it is something every Nigerian should be proud of. No wonder, the design of six or seven newly-renovated airport terminals in the country looks like a replica of MMA2.' Udoh, who recalled that he was the Master of Ceremony (MC) at the foundation-laying ceremony and the inauguration of MMA2 during the former President Olusegun Obasanjo administration praised the resilience of Bi-Courtney to keep the terminal clean at all times, saying 'that is why it is a big success.' He said since then, he had been emotionally attached to MMA2 as a terminal and as an engineer of over three decades standing and have been to different parts of the world, he was sure that the terminal is one of the best. Other speakers on the occasion, including the Managing Director of the Nigerian Aviation Handling Company Plc (nahco aviance), Mr. Kayode Oluwasegun-Ojo and his counterpart at Skyway Aviation Handling Company (SAHCOL), Alhaji Oluropo Owolabi, said MMA2 was a kind of terminal every Nigerian should be proud of. They praised the resilience of BASL for keeping the terminal running almost seven years after, despite the harsh environment in which it operated, appealing to the operator to sustain the improvement of MMA2's facilities. Earlier in his opening remarks, the Chairman of Bi-Courtney Group, Dr. Olawale Babalakin (SAN), praised all the airlines, the regulatory agencies, the tenants, the concessionaires and other users of MMA2 for 'keeping us in business'. According to him, MMA2 was planned as a 'one-stop shopping complex' where aircraft will fly in and take off and where a user could do everything he wanted to do within the airport environment with ease. He expressed gratitude to all the airlines, concessionaires, tenants, passengers and others for their belief in the terminal, saying Bi-Courtney would not relent in its efforts to sustain the high quality of facilities at MMA2 and keep it clean at all times. The Chief Executive Officer of BASL, Mr. Christophe Penninck, who presented visuals of all MMA2 achieved in 2013 and its plans in the New Year to make its users comfortable, while thanking all the stakeholders for their support last year, pledged the commitment of Bi-Courtney to keep up the high standard of the terminal. Besides, he announced that like other high class terminals the world over, BASL had automated the Multi-Storey Car Park at MMA2 with a view to eliminating the delay associated with manual parking, adding that the company had also started the installation of new escalators at the terminal as part of its infrastructure renewal project. Apart from Udoh, Ojo and Owolabi, others present at the event are the managing directors of Dana Airlines, Jacky Harthyramani; Medview Airline, Alhaji Muneer Bankole; IRS Airlines, Mr. Yemi Dada; the Chief Financial Officer of Aero, who represented the managing director, Mr. Tunde Pampam; President, Nigerian Guild of Editors (NGE), Mr. Femi Adesina; managing directors of Spakleen Professionals, Mrs. Bose Ogunsanwo and Precise Limited, Mrs. Olaosebikan; Dr. Abiodun Olayonu (SAN); Professor Gbenga Ogunmoyela; Mr. Segun Ahmedu, Mr. Wale Akoni (SAN);  Chief Operating Officer of BASL, Ms. Adebisi Awoniyi; Chief Financial Officer, Mr. Olusola Olayinka; Group Head, Internal Audit, Mrs. Yosola Popoola; representatives of Discovery Airlines and many others.