Buhari concerned over debt profile of aviation sector

President Muhammadu Buhari on Wednesday, raised concern over the enormous debt profile of Nigeria’s aviation sector.

President Buhari

He therefore promised that his administration will act quickly to redress the situation.

Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Mr. Femi Adesina, disclosed this in a statement made available to journalists.

Adesina said Buhari spoke after receiving a briefing from officials of the Ministry of Aviation inside the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

“I am concerned about the enormous debt profile in the aviation sector. The Federal Government has to do something quickly because safety, security and international respectability are involved here.

“Our airports are the windows through which people see our country. Anybody coming into the country will likely come through the airports.

“If we cannot secure and maintain our infrastructure, it will reflect very badly on us,” the President reportedly told the delegation.

He also directed the ministry to speed up all processes and projects relating to the safety and security of Nigeria’s air transport system.

The President also directed that counterpart funding for the upgrading of the international airports in Lagos, Abuja, Kano, Port Harcourt and Enugu, should be captured in the 2016 budget.

The Permanent Secretary of the Ministry, Mrs. Binta Bello, told the President that the five new international airport terminal buildings were designed to meet the best international standards.

The five international terminals, she said, could cater for 62 million passengers annually when completed in the first quarter of 2016, with Lagos moving from seven million passengers’ capacity to 25 million, Abuja moving from five million to 16 million, while Kano, Port Harcourt and Enugu, would have the capacity for seven million passengers each.

Buhari concerned over debt profile of aviation sector