By Jimoh Babatunde

As the Ministry of Aviation continued to commissioned projects in many airports across the country, stakeholders are asking what has become of the lighting of the runway 18L of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos.

The improvement programme is implemented by the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), which owns and manages 21 airports in the country. Among the critical projects are -runway rehabilitation and extension, apron construction and extension, perimeter fencing, terminal building remodeling and rehabilitation of access roads, improvement of power and water supply.

The President , National Association of Aircraft Pilots and Engineers ( NAAPE), Balami Isaac , said apart from the fact that the lighting of the runway 18L of Murtala Muhammed International Airport has not been fixed by succeeding ministers of Aviation since 2006, there is no Instrument Landing System (ILS) in one direction. One officials of the aviation agencies at the MMIA, Lagos who pleaded for anonymity said if there is an accident on runway 18R at the international there will be problem for aircrafts landing at the Lagos airport as the runway 18L at domestic is closed to traffic by 7pm.

“If anything happens at the 18R at night what happens to the local flights operating at night that normally make use of the runway when the 18L is closed,?” he asked.

The airport officials said that there is already pressure on the 18R runway as it is taking more flights than planned as well as putting more pressure on Air Traffic Controllers (ATC).

He added that apart from the ATCs, the pilots and airlines are under pressure too as they spend more money on aviation fuel they normally burn landing at the 18R runway at the international wing instead of making use of the 18L runway at the local airport.

Balami Isaac, an aircraft engineer said that a pothole is already developing on lane four of the runway 18R which can affect the landing gear of an aircraft if it runs into it, “and therefore a threat to safety.”

He said the Instrument Landing System (ILS) of the runway 22 of the Nnamdi Azikwe International Airport, Abuja is not working properly as it gives wrong signal and direction that is dangerous to air safety.

“The Very High Frequency (VHF) at the Abuja airport is epileptic and calls are not audible. Messages are not properly relayed and so aircrafts depend on each other to relay messages.”

One other officials of one of the agencies at the airport collaborated this by saying that the Very High Frequency (VHF) Mallam Aminu Kano International Airport, Kano which ought to have been upgraded has been delayed by the inability of Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) to complete the terminal of the airport on time.