The Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) said its gearing up towards handling the expected 30 million passengers traffic at the completion of work at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport terminal building in Lagos.

According to FAAN, the agency is presently handle 15 million passengers, but has projected an additional traffic of 15 million this year with the completion of the terminal in Lagos.

The General Manager, Corporate Communications, FAAN, Yakubu Dati gave the assurance on Wednesday, while fielding questions from Journalists in Lagos.

Dati also assured that industry would scale the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) audit slated for March 2016.
He said: “What looked like a mock exercise towards the audit was conducted recently by the Airport Council International (ACI) team during the visit on their invitation by the managing director of FAAN, Saleh Dunoma”.

He assured that with efforts being made, Nigerian airports will become more user-friendly and emerge as a major center for investors into the economy.

“Most of the aging projects at the airports are expected to be completed by December 2016, according to the Minister of Transportation, Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi”.

Speaking on the activities of the agency on traffic management before and after the yuletide period, Dati said except for the Turkish Airline’s passengers’ breach, it was a hitch free and seamless passengers’ facilitation period.

He disclosed that FAAN security operatives and other security agencies deployed detective machines such as screening machine, Close Circuit Television (CCTV), full body scanners and personal intelligence to ensure easy facilitation of passengers.

He expressed optimism that safer and more secured airports would be in place this year when the new terminals under construction would be completed and passengers will have the experience they always enjoy outside the shores.

“With the completion of the new terminal in Lagos, the facility will be able to process additional 15 million passengers which means we will be able to service about 30 million passengers. All these are things put together to raise aviation to a new level this year”

He disclosed that security has been enhanced across the airports with a view to meeting the challenges ahead, adding that FAAN was looking forward to partnering with investors as a result of dwindling resources in line with the minister’s statement.

He appealed to airlines and concessionaires to pay their debts to agencies in order to enable them to continue rendering services to them.

On the certification of airports in the country, Dati said a team was working round the clock with other agencies to ensure that all gaps were closed.

He warned airport users especially passengers not to leave any luggage behind as any unattended luggage will be destroyed, adding that passengers adhere strictly to airport rules and regulations.

He commended the ministers’ for their visits to the airports to acquaint themselves with facilities on ground with a view to addressing lapses.