A destroyed refinery By Favour Ifeoluwa & Akinola Ajibade The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited( NNPCL) says it has destroyed 134 illegal refineries in the last few weeks. Also, the company said 63 illegal pipeline connections were uncovered during the the weeks . The corporation, In a visual report, stated that at about 2 am on Sunday, a joint team of security agents discovered a large wooden boat illicitly loading stolen crude oil from Barge AGS01 within the OML 18 operating area, noted intelligence report a large wooden wooden boat was caught receiving crude oil from the barge. According to the state-owned oil firm, while the barge was towed away with a tugboat in custody, five speedboats used in towing the large wooden boat to the illegal loading site were also detained and the particulars of the tugboats and barge used for the operation were reportedly seized for further investigation. It further said that two large boats, which involve
By Favour & Akinola Ajibade
The General Manager, Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), Captain Musa Nuhu has passed a vote of no confidence on state-owned airports, describing them as wastes to their owners, mainly state governments.
However, the former Director-General of the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI), Dr. Muda Yusuf said that four out of 32 airports in the country are economically sustainable.
They include Murtala Muhammed Airport in Lagos (which generates about 50% of the entire revenue), Nnamdi Azikiwe Airport in Abuja, Mallam Aminu Kano International Airport (MAKIA), and Port-Harcourt International Airport.
Both remarks were made this Tuesday, during a virtual media conference in Lagos. The conference, which is second annual National Transport Technology Engagement and Exhibition, had the theme, ‘The Viability of State-Owned Airports: Issues, Challenges and the Way Forward.
Many state-owned airports, Buhu said, are unviable and were built without considering the air traffic in the state.
Highlighting their problems further, he said the increasing construction of airports by state governors places a growing regulatory burden on the agency.
Nuhu identified several challenges stemming from this situation, including financial stress on various agencies within the aviation sector, such as the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA), and other related organizations.
Nuhu articulated thus,
“We have been stretched beyond our capacity. How does an airport generate revenue when it operates only once a week?”
“Most of the airports are unviable; built without traffic in mind and leaving the burden to the Federal Government to shoulder. Airports should be a catalyst for economic development. It has to be well thought through. It becomes a problem when an airport will not generate economic returns.”
Contributing to the discussion, the President of the National Association of Nigeria Travel Agencies (NANTA), Susan Akporiaye attributed the lack of thriving state-owned airports to inadequate funding.
She stressed that no business can thrive when an airport operates only one or two flights daily.
State government airports conduit pipe for embezzlement
Wole Shadare, an aviation journalist and participant in the webinar, alleged that many state government-led airport projects serve as conduits for embezzlement of public funds.
He expressed frustration that numerous state governors continue to build non-viable airports in their regions, subsequently transferring them to FAAN, which places additional pressure on the revenues generated by the only four viable airports.
Share estimated that not less than N374 billion had been expended on such projects by the states, which observers consider as mechanisms for misappropriating public funds rather than promoting economic interests.
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