FG Orders Re-opening Of Maiduguri Airport

Source: thewillnigeria.com

BEVERLY HILLS, June 09, (THEWILL) – The Federal Government has ordered the re-opening of the Maiduguri International Airport following over 18 closure as a result of persistent Boko Haram attacks on the Borno State capital.

The Borno State deputy governor , Alhaji Zannah Mustapha,who disclosed this in a media chat on Tuesday, said the Federal Government decided to reopen the airport following the seemingly security improvement recorded in recent times.

The deputy governor said: “It is interesting to announce that the Chief of Air Staff, Air Vice Marshal Adesola Amosu, has confirmed to me that the Federal Government issued a directive for the re-opening of the Maiduguri International Airport for commercial activities.

“In fact the Chief of Air Staff told me that the Nigerian Air Space Management Agency, (NAMA), the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority, (NCAA) and the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria, (FAAN), were already directed to work out effective modalities for the effective resumption of the flight.”

He also disclosed that for commercial activities to resume at the airport, Med View Airlines has announced its decision to commence full flight from Maiduguri en route Abuja-Kano and Jeddah.

It would be recalled that the airport had been shut early December 2013 just a few days after Boko Haram gunmen attacked the 79 Composite of the Nigerian Airforce base in Maiduguri, destroying three military helicopters at the Naval base.

However,the Chief of Air Staff, Air Vice Marshall Amosu, said the closure and re-opening of the airport had nothing to do with the Nigerian Air Force, saying the decision was the jurisdiction of FAAN and NCAA.

Amosu said the airport may be temporarily shut from time to time if there was a need for it.