Nigeria on Wednesday gained another international recognition as the World Bank has agreed to help upgrade safety equipment at the nation�s airports with $10 million. The major chunk of the money, according to sources close to the ministry of aviation, would address infrastructural decay and navigational aids at the major airports.
The upgrade of the airports will be carried out under the direct supervision of the World Bank officials. Already, a Nigerian consultant has been appointed to manage the advertisement for bidders for the projects. The project, when completed, will reposition the major airports which before now had suffered poor infrastructure caused by old age .
It will be recalled that the same World Bank last October released $46.6 million International Development Association (IDA) credit to the country under the West and Central Africa Air Transport Safety and security project.
The credit was given following the position of the World Bank task team leader of the project, Pierre Pozzo di Borgo, who said Nigeria, like the rest of the West/Central Africa, Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) are the guardian of aviation safety and security without which the aviation sector could not achieve sustainable growth.
The first of the programmes had earlier been approved by the global financial institution�s Board in April 2006 for activities in Burkina Faso, Cameroun, Guinea and Mali.
However, at the request of the Nigerian government, the World Bank initiated this second phase which is to help Nigeria address lapses in aviation security and safety following the three plane crashes that ravaged the country in 2005 and 2006.