Hundreds of travellers were, on Sunday, left stranded at the international wing of the Murtala Mohammed International Airport, Lagos, because of power failure at the facility.
An employee of the airport, who asked not to be named, said the three-hour blackout was caused by a broken cable which transmits power to the terminal.
“We cannot power the airport, whether generator or not, for the cable is of vital importance,” the source said
Hours after the blackout, the public affairs manager for the airport, Akin Olukunle, said the problem had been rectified and apologised to passengers for the inconvenience.
Officials had complained that poor power supply at airports is affecting service delivery.
Officials of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria, the agency in charge of airports in Nigeria, have often complained that irregular power supply is a challenge to them.
Henry Anyanwu, a regional manager of the agency at the Port Harcourt International Airport, said on May 5, that “Power is the greatest problem we have at the airport. Diesel is the problem”.
“We use average of four trucks monthly, which is about 136,000 litres every month. This is because all the six generators here are not yet in operations.”