•Fire outbreak at Murtala Muhammed International Airport
The Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) has confirmed a fire outbreak at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos.
It disclosed, in a post on X (former Twitter) today, that the incident occurred at Terminal One of the airport.
FAAN stated that, though no fatality has been recorded, its team of firefighters was on the ground to contain the fire.
“The Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) wishes to inform the public of a fire outbreak at Terminal 1 of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos.
“Our firefighting team is currently responding and working to contain the situation. No loss of life has been recorded.
“Further updates will be provided as more information becomes available,” the agency stated.
In an updated post on X, FAAN said the orderly evacuation of passengers and airport personnel was in progress.
“To strengthen response efforts, FAAN has activated mutual aid arrangements and called for reinforcements from the Lagos State Government, Julius Berger Nigeria Plc, China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation, Lagos State Emergency Management Agency, and other relevant emergency agencies.
“We wish to reassure the public that no loss of life has been recorded at this time, and all necessary measures are being taken to safeguard lives and property,” it added.
Terminal One Remodelling
Last year, the Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo, defended plans by the federal government to remodel Terminal One of the airport with ₦712bn, saying it was a quest to meet world-class standards.
Keyamo said the airport terminal, built over four decades ago, had gone rusty.
“The roof of the airport is leaking; the place is decrepit and smelly. You see people selling Indomie and all kinds of kiosks erected there. The ceilings are failing, and the carousels are not working because their parts are not in the market anymore,” the minister said on Channels Television’s Sunday Politics.
The fiscal approval by the federal government for the project triggered discontent from various quarters as critics argued that it was a misplacement of priority by the Bola Tinubu administration at a time when millions of Nigerians groan under all-time high inflation, hunger, and skyrocketing living costs.
But Keyamo argued that the airport upgrade would be funded “through the Renewed Hope Infrastructural Funding,” as it was “not a budgetary kind of expenditure”.
He also stated that without the rebuilding of the airport terminal, many foreign airlines would abandon the country’s route.
He said, “As it is today, you cannot land in Lagos (local airport) and try to connect to an international flight, maybe to Ghana.
“Lagos is not a hub, but that was the plan in 1977 when it was designed and in 1979 when it was commissioned. You cannot process one passenger from one terminal to another, so that has stunted the growth of aviation.
“What we are trying to do in Lagos now is to make Lagos a very modern airport and create a proper hub to begin to compete with other hubs in Africa…So, we want to completely pull down Terminal One.
“It is not a refurbishment; we are tearing it down, only the pillars will remain, the carcass, the decking. Everything will go, and they are going to redesign now,” Keyamo added.
