No new airport for now – Minister

From Akilani Abdullah and Suleiman Idris, Lagos

The Supervising minister of aviation, Dr. Samuel Ortom, yesterday said the ministry will not embark on any new airport project until the on-going ones were completed.

He said the ministry has put in place a committee to go around and access the on-going re-modeling programme of the aviation ministry projects, which is currently on-going in all the 22 airports owned by the federal government.

Dr. Ortom, who spoke to journalists yesterday, at the international wing of Murtala Mohammed Airport, Lagos, after the inspection of the airport, assured Nigerians that the ministry will concentrate on the on-going projects and ensure that they are completed.

“What I want to assure Nigerians is that we are going to complete all the projects that we have started; we are not interested in embarking upon new projects again.

“We will want to ensure that we complete these ones that are on-going. We are going to ensure we complete those that are near completion with 70 or 80% to completion; we are going to complete them. Those that are halfway, we will programme them in the manner to ensure that we complete them.” He said.

While reiterating the efforts of the ministry in transforming the airports into a network of domestic and international hubs, the minister said, “The ministry is working to do something that Nigerians will appreciate more”.

Dr. Ortom also used the opportunity to clear the air on alleged rumors in connection to collecting of funds from the ministry to aid his gubernatorial campaigns, saying it is a campaign of blackmail to spoil his name.

He said, “Let me use this opportunity to digress a little; there has been insinuations that I have been collecting N25Million from the agency to fund my gubernatorial campaigns, I want to assure Nigerians that there is no such movements. It is just a mere campaign of blackmail to soil my name because of my risen political profile.”