Queue at the filing station The President, Petroleum Products Retailers Owners of Nigeria( PETROAN), Dr Billy Gills Harry, says the reduction of the product, by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited( NNPCL) is good for the nation'struggling economy, as it would help in soften the difficult situations posed by the sharp rise in the price of petroleum products. While reacting to the issue through a statement issued and signed to the NEWSMIRROR yesterday, Harry said that the slight reversal of the price by NNPCL shows that the government is committed to the alleviation of the problems of the masses. According to him, the reduction in the price per litre of Petrol Motoring Spirit( PMS) from N1,020 per litre to N899 per litre is good, adding that the country will soon get over its problem, if the readjustment of the economy continues. Also, PETROAN's Public Relation Officer, Dr Joseph Obele said that Dangote Petroleum Refinery had earlier started the r...
By Akinola Ajibade
International flights, were yesterday, prevented from landing or taking off at the Murtala Muhammed Airport.
The development, which affected the international wing of the nation's flagship airport was caused by the mangled body of a dead man found on Runaway 18R of the airport.
Neither can the identity of the corpse be ascertained nor the cause of death of the man as at of press time. While some airport officials thought that the man was probably knocked down by an aircraft taking off, others differs, as they said that the aircraft might be landing on the runaway, when the incident happened.
News Mirror gathered that the runway was temporarily shut down while a team of officials from the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria and the Nigeria Police Force evacuated the corpse from the runway.
During the temporary shutdown of the runway, international flights were prevented from landing and taking off from the airport’s international terminal.
Among the flights that could not land due to the shutdown was an Ethiopian Airlines flight 3907, a Boeing 77F aircraft with registration number ETAVN, which was coming from Lome, Togo to Lagos, Nigeria.
The flight was later diverted back to Lome after holding for a while.
Airport officials said the corpse was suddenly found on Runway 18R during a routine runway inspection by FAAN personnel.
The officials were said to have reported a corpse on the runway around the cargo area.
The spokesperson for FAAN, Mrs. Faithful Avokerie Hope-Ivbaz, could not immediately confirm the incident, saying she had yet to be briefed on the development.
Also, the Police Public Relations Officer, Airport Command, Mr Olayinka Ojelade, said he had yet to get the requited signal on the incident.
He promised to get back. As of the time of filing this report, he had yet to do so. However, a top police official at the MMIA confirmed the development.
He said the command was called upon in the early hours of Thursday to evacuate the corpse from Runway 18R.
According to him, the police are still investigating the identity of the dead man and how he got to the security area of the international airport.
However, an aviation security expert and former Military Commandant of the MMIA, Group Captain John Ojikutu (retd.), said there was a need to investigate how the unidentified man found his way into the sensitive area of the airport, describing the incident as a major security breach.
According to him, the perimeter fence of the MMIA is not a security fence, adding that this has exposed the airport to various security breaches.
Ojikutu said, “The authorities need to investigate how the man got to the airport. Nobody can say much now; but he may have been knocked down by the wingspan or undercarriage of a jumbo jet but it is too early to say anything like that now. But we need to examine the issue of houses that have been built too close to the Lagos airport. The rule says no building should be situated less than six metres to the airport structure or fence. However, we have seen cases of people crossing the runway before.
“The Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority and FAAN need to investigate this to ascertain what really happened. They need to find out the flights that landed before that incident. The current airport perimeter fence is not a security fence and we need to do something about it.”
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