Minister of Aviation, Chief Femi Fani-Kayode, on Friday, said most airports in the country are still using old navigational equipment because the application for the acquisition of new equipment did not follow the due process.
Addressing journalists at the corporate headquarters of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria, Fani-Kayode noted that the application, which the former leadership of the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency made for instrument landing systems and Distance Measuring Equipment, was not properly done.
�The application they made did not follow due process because we did not do it properly. Now, we have to properly apply for them,� he said.
The minister also disclosed that work on the Port Harcourt International Airport runway would begin this month as the contractor, Julius Berger, had moved it equipment to the airport. He said the airport, which was closed for major rehabilitation in September 2006, would be reopened for use in April 2007.
Fani-Kayode also warned protocol officers at all airports not to ferry any diplomats or VIPs without allowing them to pass through all security points, especially Customs and Immigration. Clarifying reports that he had banned protocol officers from working at the airport, he said, �The minister has not asked anybody to do that. The Managing Director of FAAN is here, Director of Airport Security is here. There is no way the minister of aviation would have given such a ridiculous directive.
�What I directed was that we would not allow a situation whereby diplomats or anybody else is fetched from the airport by protocol officers or anybody else without going through relevant security points.�