Industry safety group, Aviation Roundtable Safety Initiative (ART), yesterday said calls for a second runway at the Abuja Airport were unnecessary.
It said the current runway is under-utilised.
The group took swipe at the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) for its failure to ensure that the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), complied with the Runway Maintenance Programme for the Abuja Airport.
Its, Chairman, Gbenga Olowo said the ART did a holistic assessment of the decision to shut down the Abuja airport with the verdict that the there was no going back on the need to overhaul the facility.
He said: “The decision as to whether a runway should be closed or not rests within the purview of NCAA as provided for in the Act establishing the Regulatory Agency and not the Executive arm of government. Unfortunately, constant political interference by the executive arm of government, the ministry, continues to usurp the role of NCAA and has hampered its effectiveness.
“We therefore challenge the NCAA to be alive to its responsibility of safety oversight by conducting a thorough assessment of the status of all the runways at the various airports.”
