The supervising Minister of Aviation, Mr Samuel Ortom, yesterday ruled out sabotage in the fire incident that gutted the control tower of Kaduna International Airport on Saturday.
Ortom, who is also the Minister of State Trade and Investment, made this known in Kaduna when he visited the airport.
“Issue of sabotage I want to rule it out, it is purely a technical problem that led to the fire and we will ensure that it does not happen again.
“My technical team is competent and doing an investigation to know the issues that led to the fire that engulfed the control tower, and until a report is given to us we can’t say what caused it.
“I am happy no life was lost in the fire on Saturday,’’ he said.
The minister said normal operations had since resumed, adding that three planes had landed this morning at the airport.
“The technical team was able to restore operations, they were able to use a mobile tower to control the system, in addition, Nigeria Airspace Management Agency (NAMA) was able to bring a mobile tower on stand by.
“The good thing is that operations have resumed and continued after a few hours.’’
The minister said the ongoing renovation of the airport was part of the administration’s road map to transform the aviation sector.
“Twenty two of the airports are being remodelled, five have been completed and the rest are undergoing work,’’ he said.
He said the initial issues the government had with the contractor had been resolved, adding that adequate provisions have been made in the 2014 budget to ensure its compeletion.
According to him, five new terminals are being constructed in Kano, Port Harcourt, Abuja, Enugu and Lagos, which will be completed in 2015. (NAN)
