Abuja (Sundiata Post) – The House of Representatives Committee on Aviation, chaired by Hon. Nnolim Nnaji, will dispatch a fact-finding team to the Runview, Ajao Estate in Lagos on May 5, 2023, where the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) has started demolishing homes that are allegedly impeding flight operations’ safety and security.
Following the controversy caused by the demolition of the buildings, which was at first thought to be the work of the Lagos State government, the Committee summoned the FAAN management on Wednesday.
During his opening remarks, the Chairperson of the Committee, Hon. Nnaji, emphasised that “the Committee’s summons of the FAAN is in consonance with our obligations as Parliamentarians. We speak for the people, and therefore, everything that has an impact on them must receive our prompt attention.
The Committee is interested in learning the problems, why FAAN had to take the actions it did, and why the authority had to wait so long to act.
The Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria’s (FAAN) Managing Director, Captain Rabiu H. Yadudu, had previously stated that the sole reason for demolishing the homes in the Runview Estate in Ajao Estate, Lagos was security and safety.
He continued by saying that 254 homes on airport property were identified as unlawful buildings and that owners had been given orders to demolish them in 2008.
The FAAN chief executive also informed the Committee that the authority established a joint committee of individuals from his organisation and estate representatives, which concluded that 34 out of 254 houses needed to be demolished right away for the safety and security of flight operations.
Aside from being on aviation fuel pipelines or obstructing the airport’s perimeter fencing surveillance, he continued that some of the 34 houses designated for immediate demolition were also taller than necessary.
FAAN management also informed the House that the authority had requested assistance from the Lagos State government in the demolition exercise in September of last year (2022) because it needed more tools to complete the demonstration on its own.
He pointed out that the state’s development control received the request and conducted its investigation before starting the exercise on April 30, 2023.
Regarding the issue of broken lifts and air conditioners at the terminal buildings at the airports in Lagos and Abuja, Captain Yadudu said that the facilities had grown too old for ongoing upkeep and that the authority had awarded contracts for their replacement.
