LET'S AVOID SHEDDING OF HUMAN BLOOD ON ABUJA AIRPORT TARMAC!

ZION B-BC   NEWSLETTER.  

A Publication of the Zion Faith Bible-Believing Church, Kpeyegyi, Abuja Nigeria. [VOL. 6. NO 187. 12th March, 2017.} “ONLY The Truth, Will Set You   Free! (John.8:32).
(Looking at Nigeria’s Political System from a godly Perspective).

LET'S AVOID SHEDDING OF HUMAN BLOOD ON ABUJA AIRPORT TARMAC!

The Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport Abuja tarmac, presently under resurfacing had been in use for 34 consecutive years according to Aviation authorities - Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), and Minister of State, Transport - without any significant repairs until its closure to both international and domestic flights, for a period of SIX WEEKS - 8th March to 19th April, 2017, to avoid an imminent and catastrophic air crash that would consume scores of sacred human lives!

WHAT STAKEHOLDERS NEEDED TO KNOW!
(1) The repairs to the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport Abuja tarmac was long overdue because it had been delayed for about 14 years and was becoming a death trap to air passengers, ground crew and all airport critical infrastructure.
(2) In those long years, no second runway was built while pot holes of various sizes welled up on the runway and created serious challenges for aircraft pilots when taking off or landing without crashing their planes!
(3) It is a known fact that Nigeria has a poor safety air record because at least, there had occurred 11 airline crashes since 1995 - killing more than 470 people. On October 23rd, 2005, a Belview Airline Plane went down in bad weather near Lagos - killing all 117 people on board. Also an aircraft operated by Sosoliso Airline, crashed in Port Harcourt on 10th December 2005 - killing all 118 on board - including several school children.

There was another major air disaster at the Abuja Airport, on Sunday 29th October, 2006, when a Boeing 737, Nigerian ADC Airliner crashed close to the edge of the runway, after takeoff! It was believed to have carried about 100 passengers - including the late Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Muhammadu Maccido and his son, a Senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and a grandson! The aircraft (Flight 53) was headed for Sokoto from Abuja from10.35hrs and to land one hour later! Only FOUR persons were believed to have survived the crash! If aviation management had stuck to their client's specifications, the tarmac in question would have been resurfaced and refurbished after its utilization for 20 years and not the improvisation of an unethical 14-year-period of patching of POTHOLES, which have broken open after such lengthy years of absolute neglect and non-maintenance! It was reported that one of such potholes damaged the LANDING GEAR of a foreign aircraft and was by God's grace that an accident was averted!

When the idea of a new Federal Capital City (FCT), was conceived and was eventually created on 3rd February, 1976 by the military, one most important critical infrastructure that demanded urgent attention to facilitate rapid socio-economic and industrial growth in the new capital, was air transportation which was in fact given priority consideration. Members of the Supreme Military Council argued that the then Federal Capital City of Lagos, had become very congested due to the myriad of economic activities within the region, because of its sea ports and proximity to the Atlantic Ocean. However, it took a period seven years before the Abuja, (now renamed), Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, came into existence.  Though, the massive monolith ZUMA ROCK, (1,125 metres above sea level), north of Abuja, but located Niger State, on the Kaduna road, was believed, could pose some obstruction and danger to the taking off/landing off aircrafts, according to aviation experts and meteorologists, but in the 34 years of its existence, the Airport had been one of the busiest and most prized airports in Nigeria, being the fastest connection to the seat of power in the FCT!
Between 1983 and 1999, the airport was maintained by the Federal Military Government until the now existing edifice of the airport complex was built between 2000 and 2002 by the newly-elected democratic government. In November 2006, the Abuja Gateway Consortium, (AGC), signed an US$101.1million contract - which included the construction of an airport hotel, private car parks, shopping malls, and a bonded warehouse, totalling US$50 million during its first five years and an additionally upfront payment of US$10 million, - for the management of the airport for an initial period of 25 years, i.e., 2006-2031! According to that business plan, the total investments would have amounted to US$371 million during the period in question; but late President Umaru Yar'Ardua revoked the contract in April 2008, before it could even incubate! The government then settled for the construction of a SECOND RUNWAY which was first awarded at a cost of US$423 million to Julius Berger Construction Company and later revoked because of high cost for fresh bids which never saw the light of the day! The airport runway had gone through tremendous stress in over 30 years of constant use when it should have been refurbished and resurfaced when it was 20 years old in 2003; and according to the experts it is now at a terribly dilapidating condition that could cause landing mishaps if not quickly fixed. And so, with the recommendations of the Ministry of Aviation, the Federal Executive Council (FEC), decided on 4th January, 2017, to close the airport for SIX WEEKS, to enable repairs of the runway which was said to be dysfunctional and utilize all facilities of the Kaduna Airport, which is the closest to Abuja, as the alternative international destination entry point to the FTC with a sum of N1billion naira voted to complete the renovation of its terminal.

There had been public outcry against the closure which many people - including members of the National Assembly (NASS), - who believed that the period of six weeks closure would further depreciate the economy and cause avoidable hardships on both local and international travellers whose burden would be increased through imposed land journeys from Kaduna to Abuja. They also complained of likely insecurity exposure of air passengers on that highway in spite of the assurances by the Federal Government that adequate measures had been put in place to ensure adequate security of lives and properties and free traffic flow between the FCT and Kaduna throughout the period in question.
Abuja Airport is the second busiest after the commercial city's Lagos Murtala Mohammed International Airport and it is believed that its temporary closure might produce a negative impact on the economy which is just recovering from a recession of three consecutive quarters of 2016 and would also gulp a sum of N 5.8billion to be paid to the contractors!  At the initial stages of the planned closure, many international airlines rejected the alternative route of landing at the Kaduna International Airport, which they regarded as inferior and of low-class facilities and could not accommodate large planes like its Abuja counterpart, but with all diplomatic moves and interventions, it was clear that the Kaduna Airport would serve the intended purposes throughout the period - especially when it was evident that Federal Government would ensure security and bear costs of air passengers transportation from Kaduna to Abuja and vice versa.

WHO ARE AND WHAT IS THE GROUSE OF THOSE OPPOSED TO THE WORN-OUT TARMAC RESURFACING?
(1) Airline operators (foreign and local), who feel threatened that their clientele statistic percentage would drastically reduce due to the additional challenge of road transportation before getting to their various destinations in the FCT!
(2) Businessmen, contractors, investors, lawyers, etc, who compete with time to fulfil appointments in the FCT, and depend on strict punctuality without the incuberances of glaring disappointments through road transportation set-backs!
(3) Food vendors, commercial drivers, small and medium scale investors etc, who depend on daily doses of daily bread and whose life-line would definitely be "cut off" without hope from elsewhere?
(4) Airline workers, who might have to receive small percentages of salaries or even pittance from their employers who are equally grumbling by pre-empting the likelihood of low-patronage of passengers during the duration of the temporary closure.
(5) The daily paid/temporary airport workers - cleaners, sweepers, dry cleaners, shoe-shiners, gardeners, grass mowers, local security personnel etc, are also among those who are vehemently opposed to government's arrangement!
(6) They claimed that in other climes, airports were never closed for resurfacing or refurbishing but that one side of the runway would be closed for renovation at night when their would be less air traffic and that method would save massive financial losses to airlines, private investors and governments.
(7) They threatened to boycott the Kaduna Airport for the period of the temporary closure if government was bent on carrying out the resurfacing because of all of the above greedy and selfish reasons centred on the LOVE OF MONEY without recourse or empathy for the sanctity of life that could be lost if there was another major aircrash like that of 29th October, 2006 at the Abuja Airport!

OFFICIAL DERELICTION OF CONSTITUTIONAL DUTIES BY PAST ADMINISTRATIONS!
Out of the 14 years - 2003- 2017 - of non-compliance with the maintenance of the Abuja Airport tarmac, the defunct Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), administration, which was in government for 12 of those years, toyed with the lives and properties of air passengers without recourse to their fundamental right to LIFE  - an international treaty to which Nigeria is a signatory!

SALUTE TO THE TENACITY OF FEDERAL GOVERNMENT OF CHANGE AGENDA!
That the Federal Government had stuck to its guns and refused to bend to the whim and caprice of charlatans and all forms of dissenting opinions in respect of this wise move, poised to save sacred human lives, is a right step in the right direction! President Muhammadu Buhari, who returned to Nigeria from London through the Kaduna Airport on Friday, 10th March, 2017, has proved once again, that the mandate given to him by the people would provide for them all dividends accruing from a dispensation which is very passionate about their right to life in all mode of transportation - air, land and sea!
Six weeks will soon fizzle out and the Abuja Airport will bounce back to life with better assurances for air safety services that would further support the economy positively. A STITCH IN TIME SAVES NINE.

Please look forward to more divine revelation in the next edition of Zion B-BC Newsletter as you share this with friends and remain blessed in the Lord. [For weekly access, to this newsletter, log on to:  facebook.com/zionfaithbible.believingchurch or http://www.zfbbc1.blogspot.com, https://www.google.com/+zionfaithbiblebelievingchurch.

Please look forward to divine revelations in  The Sure Word Gospel Tracts, Our divinely inspired books on the Amazon KINDLE Store Namely: The Unbroken Chain of Grace, Nigeria’s Pot Pourri (Volumes 1-5), Godly Politicking For World Peace,  and The Wedding Mascot Died. 

If you have not accepted the Lord Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Saviour, don’t miss this great opportunity as you pray this prayer: Lord Jesus; I confess that I am a sinner who needs to be saved through the grace of the New Testament of your Blood, shed on the Cross at Calvary; I renounce every sin in my life and accept you as my Lord and Saviour. Please forgive me and write my name in the Book of Life. Amen. If you prayed this prayer, you have been admitted into the family of sons and daughters of God, who are born-again. Congratulations.

I am, yours sincerely, Dr. David B.A. Olufon, Resident Pastor and Editor. 08130669886, 08098194390.  08080243066   g-mail- dvdolufon@gmail.com