Just In: Closure of Abuja International Airport Postponed to March 8

A report by the News Agency of Nigeria indicates that the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport in Abuja will now be closed on March 8.
The airport was earlier scheduled to be closed for six weeks between February and March. No reason was given for the change of date.
A statement by the aviation ministry stated that the “proposed closure” was set to start on March 8.

Aviation experts have said that the temporary closure of the airport, the country’s second busiest after the commercial capital Lagos, will have a negative impact on Africa’s biggest economy, which fell into recession in 2016 for the first time in 25 years.

Passengers travelling to Abuja will have to fly to Kaduna and travel in bus shuttles, guarded by security provided by the government, to the capital on a pot-holed road where kidnappings have taken place in the last few years.

Kaduna’s international airport handled 12 flights in December 2015, the last month for which Nigeria’s airports authority has figures, compared with 812 that used Abuja International.

The government has said German construction giant, Julius Berger, will carry out repairs on Abuja’s damaged runway.
Meanwhile, the minister of aviation, Captain Hadi Sirika will engage the industry’s stakeholders on issues arising from the proposed closure of the airport on Thursday, January 5.

The meeting would afford him the opportunity to officially inform the sector’s players of the decision.