The Chairman Senate Committee on Aviation, Distinguished Senator Smart Adeyemi (CON), yesterday presented the 2021 Budget of the Aviation industry to the Committee on Appropriations which is chaired by Senator Ibrahim Jibrin.
While attending to questions from the Press after the presentation, he noted that the 2021 budget of the Aviation industry is quite promising and progressive.
Senator Smart Adeyemi hinted on salient issues and areas the budget will cover.
Firstly, the Senator said there is a provision of second run way in Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport Abuja, which will save some of the occasions where the aircrafts has to hover with this scarcity of fuel, and some aircrafts goes to nearby airports to land, he said having the second run way will guarantee the safety of aircrafts and passengers and also minimize costs. He also explained that this should have been done some ten or fifteen years back.
The Senator also said the amount allocated for the second run way is 15 billion naira and over 10 billion naira for aircraft and machine maintenance stations.
He equally made mentioned of perimeter fencing to safeguard the landing of the aircrafts and to prevent the invasion of animals into the airports.
Senator Smart Adeyemi also said there is a proposal for more meteorological equipments so that there can be adequate forecasting of weather and the take off and landing of planes can be well guided.
He further said they made made provisions for those key sectors in aviation to make it more safe.
In his words, “Nigeria has succeeded in maintaining enviable safety records and I think we should commend aviation for that”.
In the same vein he said what they have done in the National Assembly is to encourage the maintenance of the safety they have recorded in Aviation, Nigeria has done very well in Aviation and as such, the Aviation Committee has put in all those measures that will further strengthen the industry and encourage more Nigerians to fly.
The Senator equally said there are Air Strips that has long been abandoned, next year some of them will come alive.
In his words he said Nigeria is a very vibrant country, that in a depressed economy, one of the ways to go above the global economic recession that is threatening us is to encourage people to fly as that will aid quite a number of people to fly and some of the businessmen to move around the country.
In Conclusion, Senator Smart Adeyemi said Aviation is very key to our country, not just to accelerate the socio economic development, but to also keep the country afloat of global economic recession.
Adeleye Oluwafemi Godwin
SA Media to Distinguished Senator Smart Adeyemi (CON) NASS- ABUJA
28/11/2020.
