Maiduguri airport until March 2014; documents obtained by our
correspondent have shown.
According to a Notice to Airmen sent by the Nigerian Airspace
Management Agency to airline operators, a copy of which was obtained
by our correspondent, the carriers were told that the airport would no
longer be available for flights until March 2014.
In the NOTAM, which was filed through NAMA's Aeronautical Information
Services, and sent to some Control Towers across the country, pilots
were informed that the Maiduguri airport was shut during the first
week of December and would not be available until early March next
year.
Further investigations by our correspondent revealed that the Federal
Government decided to shut the airport after Boko Haram insurgents
destroyed some equipment belonging to NAMA.
A NAMA source at one of the airports in the North, who confirmed the
development, said it was the agency's generators that were destroyed
by the Boko Haram sect during the recent attack on the Maiduguri Air
Force base.
He said the generators might not be fixed until next year, expressing
the hope that the government would have fixed the situation before the
March date when the airport was expected to be re-opened.
Maiduguri, the Borno State capital, was on December 2 attacked by
Boko Haram insurgents, leading to the death of two military personnel
and members of the sect, and the destruction of three decommissioned
military aircraft, two helicopters and property worth millions of
naira.
Owing to the siege, military authorities and the Borno State
Government slammed a 24-hour curfew on the city and its environs.
The attack forced the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria to shut
the Maiduguri airport and airlines hurriedly cancelled their flights
to the city.
Arik Air had to cancel its Abuja to Maiduguri morning flight on Monday
following the attack, just as roads leading into the city were closed.
However, the FAAN spokesman, Mr. Yakubu Dati, said on Monday that the
airport had been opened.
He said the Maiduguri airport was just closed for a day following the
Boko Haram attack on the nearby Air Force base and had since been
re-opened.
But findings revealed that the airport had yet to be reopened. Arik
Air said it had yet to resume operations to the Maiduguri airport
because the airport was still closed.
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