By Kenny Ashaka and Abdullahi Hassan
Captain Mohammed Joji is currently the Chairman of the committee set up by the Federal Government to ensure the repairs of the Abuja airport runway. As Secretary-General of Aircraft Operators of Nigeria, he raised the alarm that 47 Airlines had closed shop in Nigeria due to policy summersault. That was last year when he faced the Aviation Committee of the House of Representatives. Today, Captain Joji, after taking a look at the problems with Nigeria says belligerent nationalism being expressed in hostile ways by some Nigerians towards others from regions other than their own was threatening Nigeria’s existence.
According to him, Nigeria’s problem is caused by the activities of individuals in the country who are richer than government. “The individuals control the economy and direct the policies of government. That’s why I feel sorry for President Buhari. Unless and until you reduce the influence of such people nothing will ever work properly because they determine what the naira is worth. It is called round tripping. You buy it so much; it is cheaper for you, create scarcity. They are playing with us.”
Joji, ex-managing director and chief executive officer of the Nigerian Airways fingered Sen. Stella Oduah as the brain behind the problems of Nigeria’s aviation industry and explained why the Abuja airport must be shut down before the planned runway repairs are carried out. Excerpts:
The closure of the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport in Abuja for six weeks, beginning from March 8 this year has caused a lot of ripples and it would seem to some people that the state of the airport is hardly of world class standard, talking about facilities. There is also the criticism that the terminal building is nothing compared to what obtains in smaller or even less endowed countries, apart from what they say is not ideal for a capital of a nation like Nigeria. As the chairman of the runway repairs and the relocation of flights from Abuja to Kaduna, what have you to say to all these?
First of all, the Nnamdi Azikiwe Airport called Abuja Airport initially was part of the Third Development Plan of Yar’Adua in 1976 when 12 states were created. Yar’Adua, senior, that is Shehu Musa Yar’Adua was the one in charge of the Third Development Plan where they budgeted N8 million those days. It was a lot of money at that particular time and at that time it was not FAAN, it was NAA and then there was no FCAA and NAMA at the time. At that time there was what you called Civil Aviation Department, CAD and remember it was in Broad Street, Lagos. At that time, you had people like Bomfa, Agbabiaka and others as pioneers. When I came to Nigeria in 1986, my first Air Operating Certificate was given to me by Moshood Agbabiaka. He was the director in charge of Federal Civil Aviation Authority after its creation. Now, let’s get back to this Abuja Master Plan. It incorporated second runway right from the beginning. In 2010 we were at the Senate arguing about the start of the second runway, how much it would cost and a whole lot of things. We told them the complete rehabilitation was overdue, the rehabilitation will require total closure and that the Abuja current runway was 30 years old. We also told them that total closure has very serious consequences in terms of social and political life of this country because it was the seat of government, security, diplomatic and for the economy. We told them there was the need to develop a runway for the future, that is another 30 years ahead and to take into consideration that the aircraft that will operate into the airport in the nearest future, that is A380, is the biggest aircraft now carrying about 600 passengers.
It is a critical aircraft and others should be part of the design mix. That was the structure of the proposed second runway. When we asked for bidders, six of them, Julius Berger, PW Nigeria Limited, R.C.C, China Harbour Construction Company, Arab Contractors and Impresit Bakolori bidded. They pruned them down to four, Dantata and Sawoe came in later, Reynolds Construction Company (RCC), PW. Nigeria Limited and Julius Berger. The proposed figure for the runway at that particular time as quoted by PW was N30 billion; Julius Berger quoted N72.9 billion, over twice the amount quoted by PW. We pinned them together and we realized that PW was just trying to construct a highway, not runway. They realized they don’t have experience because runway is structures, concrete and steel, first, second, third layers. But motor way is just tar and other materials. When they realized that, they said they made a mistake. Then when we pruned them down, FAAN then nominated five consulting firms at that time to BPP for approval to look at the bidding of every organization. They are Rubicon Aeronautics, Aviation Systems International Limited, Catamaran Nigeria Limited, Ove Arup and Partners Nigeria Limited and Endev Associates. They tried to make the process so transparent and open. At the end of the day Julius Berger won the bid, but they had to cut down N6.5 billion from N72.9 billion. Then, unfortunately, politics took over in the Senate. They said there was a Council memo prepared by the Federal Ministry of Aviation for the approval of the contract; that the Federal Executive Council that met on the 16th of December 2009 approved the design and Abuja second runway to Messrs Julius Berger Nigeria Plc, contract was awarded and agreement signed. Now, they signed agreements and everything was about beginning, suddenly there was quiet. Why? Something must have gone wrong somewhere. Somebody didn’t get what he wants or what?
Can you please address this issue of the airport’s status which some people have said is hardly world class and its terminal building nothing compared to what they see in smaller countries?
Yes, because the older terminal, what they call the GAT is a smaller terminal where the general aviation is at the moment. That was the entire international terminal at that time. If you remember, international flights were not going to Abuja. They were going to only Lagos and Kano. It was when they finished the other terminal that they thought of international flights. In fact, I was the first MD of the Nigeria Airways in 1992 to start flying from Abuja to London, our DC 10. The former governor of Kogi State, late Abubakar Audu was my first passenger. That was how Abuja started international flights. Naturally, it started growing and has grown up to a point now that we have eight foreign airlines, British Airways, Lufthansa, Air France, Air Cote D’Ivoire, A Sky, Ethiopian Airline, Egypt Air and South African Airways. Initially, we have Emirate and Kenya Airways, but they pulled out due to the depreciation of the naira. Now, the domestic airlines that fly into Abuja as I am talking to you are Arik Airline, Azman Air, Aero, Dana, Air Peace, Med-view, First Nation and Overland Airways.
Some of these names are no longer being heard? Are you sure they are still operating?
They are all operating, flying to Abuja apart from Emirates and Kenya Airways. They are all operating, flying to Abuja; everybody knows that. So, the situation as it is at the moment is that you have 16 airlines operating in Abuja. Now, that is the problem. They are complaining, how do you move these 16 airlines to Kaduna? That’s the problem we have at the moment. So, they are saying why can’t we close part of the runway? We are saying no we cannot because the first and second layers have gone. If you say close half, what about if you land and overrun, what will happen? As far as we are concerned, the runway must close completely.
The resurfacing of the runway is not the issue now. It is the closure for six weeks. Have you thought of the economic implications of the closure of an airport for six weeks? Besides, are you not exposing your passengers to avoidable danger?
Good. You have 747 for Hajj carrying 500 passengers plus 450 tonnes of solid weight of metals onto a threshold. You drop the aeroplane from five feet and everybody dies. What do you think? Which one is better? Money or human lives?
There are also logistic problems involved
Yes, but what we are saying is simple, five hundred people packed in a jumbo, banging the aeroplane under threat from 50 feet. The runway will…everybody will die. So, you have to decide.
Can’t the runway be repaired without closing the airport?
No, no, no. The structure is gone, I am telling you.
But this is done in other climes
No, in other countries you have two runways, Heathrow, Germany, all the airports have two runways. You can shut one and start working on the other one. Here, you have only one runway and you cannot work on that one in piece meal; you cannot. First of all, there are some mistakes made initially. Instead of building the second runway immediately because when the runway is up to 20 years, you have to rehabilitate it and it has been resurfaced twice before now.
It is just like an old man who has done surgery many times, your bones will be weak. Now if you contemplate marrying an 18 years old girl and you are dead inside, of what use is your body to the girl? That’s a simple analogy to the situation on ground.
What is wrong with segmenting the repairs as recommended by the Senate and the Nigerian Society of Engineers, NSE?
That is why we said you Senate come and do it and let’s see. You see when you segment it…you have a runway of about 3,000 meters long or 3,900 meters, you segment it. Now, load 777 BA, if you try to land and you are unfortunate and there is an overrun, you find that there is a bad approach, you are going to hit those trucks and pillars on the segment or you go to the ground straight. So we said close the airport to avoid disaster until it is finished. So, it is a decision between money and human lives.
Are you sure Nigeria can afford the cost in terms of what the closure would engender in view of the fact that the airport, apart from being in the nation’s capital is the second busiest airport in Nigeria, especially now that the country is facing a painful recession?
I have told you which one we should choose. Is it human life or money? For example, if all the heads of government in Africa come to Abuja and that runway is damaged and closed and they are unable to get out, what can you do? Sometimes you consider the worse of two scenarios. If you think there is cost in safety, wait until you have an accident; you will see how expensive it would be. So, sometimes when people take decisions like that in this kind of environment…let me tell you, there is no leader on earth who will deliberately concoct his failure.
Buhari does not want to fail and the minister would not want to fail. Nobody will say I am ruling you today and I want to fail. People just want to play politics. This is what we all know. Dino Melaye made one careless statement by asking the cost of one piece of highway. We laughed and said get a fully loaded jumbo, then let’s go and land on the highway and you will see how pastors and imams pray. What they are doing is to get public sentiments, looking for votes, believing that they are saving money. This is the danger we have at the moment and we are ready to face them and challenge them. I told you this issue was discussed at the Senate. I was there. Somebody said I am a civil engineer. Okay as civil engineer, have you constructed a runway before? In fact, I will never trust any civil engineer in Nigeria to construct runway for me in Nigeria.
Are they not qualified?
Look, the Nigerian factor is there. For example, what guarantee would I have that the mixture of the concrete will not have more sand than cement? I saw something that shocked me once. One day, I saw Julius Berger engineers pouring concrete away. I asked why and I was told it has overstayed. It has stayed more time than necessary. They lost millions of naira because they said it has reached expiry stage. Of course you know Julius Berger is one of the best construction companies in the world. They used to pay them with oil in Nigeria. But that was then. To me I am comfortable with Julius Berger, short of bringing foreign runway contractors, those who constructed the runways in Heathrow and other countries in the western world. I never met them and discussed with them up to the normal meeting. We finished talking with the Senate and everybody shook hands and we left.
What guarantee have you that this job would be finished in six weeks when it starts on the 8th of March as proposed in view of our experiences in this country where things are hardly achieved as planned. Do you think the six weeks for the completion would be met because don’t forget the main contractor, Julius Berger, has said the completion would depend on the fulfillment of obligation by other stakeholders
The obligation is money, isn’t it? If money is available they will do it. That one is beyond my control. But if they realize the dangers of delaying this, the president will never ever allow the money to expire. That is what you call work in progress, you pay in piece meal. Given the pressure, given that Abuja is the seat of government and power, there is no way they can joke with that. But one of the things I added in my recommendation is that while you are busy resuscitating the existing runway, concurrently start building the second runway. When you do this, you will be killing two birds with one stone. That’s what I am saying. By the time you finish the existing one, you would have gone half way with the second runway because the other runway is towards the hill. You have to cross this particular runway so it would never distract work on the runway at all.
We have listened to the argument that the job is challenging and risky, but around the world airport runways are rehabilitated without the outright closure of airports, although you have said most of them have two runways…
(Cuts in) Yes, two or three runways, but what they are saying is that without closure of the airport, not without closure of the runway. One runway is closed completely and the other one is put to use. Let’s get this correctly; without closure of the airport, not the runway. Heathrow has many runways, 2,000 right and 2,000 left, including France. They all have two, three runways, cross, diagonal or parallel. You don’t close the entire airport because that will amount to closing the entire economy of the country.
That’s what we are saying and that is the fear of most Nigerians
No, no, no, not here in Nigeria, but countries having more than one runway. In Nigeria I have already given you a scenario, human lives or cost. There was a carelessness that was made by not providing a second runway in 2010. Rather than sitting down, delaying catastrophy, you members of the press were busy criticizing. You have to take the bull by the horns. There is a delay, but at least the longer it is, the worse it becomes. We did a bit of the calculation ourselves. When we looked at the transfer, in the past you have about, domestic Abuja, that was the FAAN statistics in 2015, you have about 60,526 while Kaduna was 3,907. So Abuja is taking the whole. So, for international and domestic, the statistics in 2015 was 70,270. That is aircraft movements. At the same time, Kaduna was only 4,123. So you are now transferring all these to Kaduna, but we are looking at the average for six weeks only. For the average of six weeks, you are going to have an average of 207 flights daily to Kaduna as opposed to their usual normal flights of 40 or 50. I am just coming from the airport.
We looked at the runway, the threshold, haul load and clearway. I made a bit of the drawing to see how far we can go. We tried to see if we can have a new apron (paved area at airport). But when I got to the airport, I found that there is a clear land you can increase your apron rather than go to the other side. But they just said closed. They did some meeting they didn’t invite us, but I said as chairman, I wore my cap and saw that they were really doing a fast job. The terminal is going on as fast as you possibly can, brilliant. They haven’t touched the car park yet, but at the terminal you will see that they are really working on arrival, departure halls, offices and so on. We have eight counters now and that can accommodate as many airlines as possible. All the counters are going to have internet facilities for online bookings and computerized. I looked at even the sighting of the instruments, landing system; there is what is called Blast pad. The reason why we introduced the Blast pad is because of what happened in Canada. On 2nd August, 2005 Air France A340 Aircraft with registration number F-GLZQ overshot the runway during landing at Toronto Airport, Canada. Incredibly, all the 297 passengers and 12 crews were evacuated within 45 seconds before the aircraft broke off into pieces. A new safety measure was introduced as a result to prevent future runway overrun which is ICAO model. Now, ICAO stipulates that a minimum of 300 meters must be provided at either end of the runway as Blast pad, but Canada increased their own to 600 meters. They also said a special material must be provided to cover the Blast pad which is called Engineering Material Arrest System (EMAS). This is a kind of loose gravels provided to slow down the Aircraft. This is most effective than using the Reverse Thrust and Braking System. It is from that analysis that we will now produce the Kaduna runway model.
Have you considered undertaking the repairs at night or at weekends when traffic is normally low at least to reduce losses and inconveniences to people and businesses…
(Cuts in) Listen, I have already told you…
Let me paint two scenarios for you. In November of last year, the East Midland Airport in the United Kingdom was closed during weekends for resurfacing to avoid disruption. In the same year in India, the government there ordered the closure of the Mumbai Airport for five hours, twice a week for nine days for surface repairs. Even then, it still affected 2,100 flights. One can cite other examples. You have agreed earlier that outright closure will affect the economy. One then wonders if you have made an estimation of what the closure of the Abuja Airport would cost the nation?
You see you are talking of Western Europe compared to Nigeria. Let’s go back to City Airport. What type of aeroplanes land there? Small aeroplanes. Bigger jets do not land there. It is for the convenience of business people. So, for certain periods of the day, say from morning up to 4:00pm, it is closed. It is not a 24 hours airport. Is it the same thing in Mumbai? In Mumbai, they may have second or third runway. That is Bombay, isn’t it? I was in Bombay as far back as 1983. When I was working with the British Airways in the Helicopter Division, I was a Manager in charge of Aviation Electronics, the Oil and Gas of India was using our helicopters, similar to some owned by Aero-Contractors because they were short of aeroplanes. We had a problem with aeroplane. I had to fly to Bombay with technicians immediately. In less than 12 hours we were in Bombay. We met the aeroplane on ground and fixed it overnight. It was a helicopter. Helicopters have nothing to do with runway. It can take off and land vertically from anywhere you want. When you look at Mumbai, has Mumbai one runway? No. Mumbai is the center of the economy of India. It used to be called Bombay, the so called Bollywood center.
We’ve been there and this was 30 years ago. I was there in charge of operations. I have seen that most countries initially have two runways. That was why Lagos has two runways. It was so because Lagos was the seat of power. Kano was the commercial center, not Lagos. In 1956/57, Kano was handling over 377 flights a week when Lagos was not handling up to that. The first aeroplane landed in a Polo field in 1925. Coming back to the issue of runway, where you have two runways, it is easy for you to close one runway and start working on the other.
Secondly, if the structure of the runway has not been damaged, there is what you call Quick Dry Tar, it’s a new technology. It’s like what is done in the highways; you just put tar and the next minute vehicles can run on them. It is unlike before when you put a tar you will have to wait. At Heathrow Airport, people at the runway section used to close from 2 or 3 O’clock in the morning till four because every night, people don’t know and I know this because my hotel was close to the Airport, the runway is closed for two hours to enable them clear some rubber lines after landing. You remember what happened to one Concord that landed in Paris where it walked up to a metal left by DC 10. The accident happened in July 2001 involving Air France Concord. One hundred passengers and nine crews lost their lives. It went out of control and crashed into the annexe of the Hotel Helicimo, located on the outskirts of Gumis, near Paris shortly after take-off from Charles De Gaulle’s Airport. The point of impact was nine kilometers. The accident happened in daylight. The initial accident was caused by the main landing gear tyre which ran over a metal strip lost from a Continental Airline DC10 which has left five minutes before. The debris from the tyre caused a rupture from the fuel tank and there was a major fuel leak and there was a fire. Just small metal strip dropped on the runway. That’s why you have to close the runway quickly and sweep it.
In other words, it is not possible to resurface the runway in the night or at weekends. Is that what you are saying?
It depends on the sort of work you are going to do on the runway. If the structure is gone, you have to close it down completely. If it is just a small patch work, you have the option of doing it in the night when no aeroplane is expected to land in the next two to three hours.
It is reported that the planned diversion would cost N6 billion because it involves movement of facilities and equipment to Kaduna. Some people would say this is a waste. What do you think?
The budget is now N1.1 billion. What is N1.1 billion, including the movement from Abuja to Kaduna and the street lights? They have started putting the street lights. They have also started the patching of the Nnamdi Azikiwe Way in Kaduna. Within a month or so everything will be fine. You see the crucial issue now is that people are trying to play politics. Like I said earlier, no government will deliberately design its failure. We should stop this politics. In Nigeria we have what you call polarized politics of non-consensus policy. I delivered some lectures on that before, this ethnic card. He is from Yoruba, Igbo or Hausa. In United Kingdom, we have English, Irish, Wales, Scottish, but when it comes to national development there is no division. What is even worse and doesn’t help matters in the case of Nigeria is that it is a country where individuals who are richer than the government. The individuals control the economy and direct the policies of government.
That’s why I feel sorry for President Buhari. Unless and until you reduce the influence of such people nothing will ever work properly because they determine what the naira is worth. It is called round tripping. You buy it so much; it is cheaper for you, create scarcity. They are playing with us. The last time the Central Bank Governor came out with figures he said Nigerians here, in our domiciliary account, we have 30 billion dollars and our foreign reserve is 38 billion dollars. So all you have in the world is 8 billion dollars above what Nigerians have. What is happening to the aviation industry is also politics. Nigerians never look at development and technology. What they look for is who they can flog today. All they are interested in is who won the election. On the other side, this issue of ethnic jingoism is what is killing Nigeria. As long as we continue on that line we will spend so much to achieve a little.
Would you blame foreign airlines for refusing to use the Kaduna airport? They cited safety reasons.
I will blame them because they are putting the cat before the horse. They should ask questions. Even now, the British High Commissioner has asked me to see him for further explanation. That is how proactive they are because British Airways is coming. I am the High Commissioner and British Airways is my baby, unlike Nigerians who don’t give a damn when they are outside. He believes that the biggest market to the British Airways in Africa is in Nigeria. So they are concerned. So I am going to allay his fears. There are so many anti… people don’t wait to see what will happen. Can a country design her failure? People cannot think. What if it is in Enugu or Ibadan, will it be the same thing? Will people start shouting why it is like that? We Nigerians are our own enemies.
You were one-time managing director of the Nigerian Airways. Why did we have to leave the only runway in Abuja to disintegrate for many years without attention? We hear that the lifespan expired 14 years ago. Why has it been left to decay to the extent that it would call for total closure before repairs?
Nigeria Airways was a parastatal. It was not the entire body of the aviation industry. Airport Authority is there, the Nigerian Airspace Management Authority is there, Nigerian Meteorological Agency is there. It is not the only parastatal. All I have to do if I saw anything wrong and we sit down in a meeting, is to speak. We used to have a forum in Dodan Barracks where we used to meet and Aikhomu, the vice president was the chairman. It was called Port Committee. All the National Maritime, Nigeria Airways and others met every month. The Inspector General of Police then was Ibrahim Coomassie. It was so democratic then. We discussed issues of importance. At that particular time in 1992, the runway was still lively so nobody thought of it. But when you are putting a round peg in a square hole…look at what Stella Oduah did. She polluted the whole industry. She created 15 departments from what used to be five departments, all with directors, salaries, NCAA, half a billion. Then she went and brought people who should have no business in aviation and made them general managers, chief executives because of partiality, stupidity, tribalism, antagonism. That’s what she did. Oduah is in history as the person who killed the aviation industry in Nigeria. Look at the edifice in Kaduna and Lagos. Was she not the one? A contractor walked away with half a billion. You can see old structures. Go to Kaduna and see. She is now walking free and as a Senator. And her people voted her in because she established international flight out of Enugu. Isn’t it? I don’t want to open the pandora’s box of all those people. I will let by-gone be by-gone. My father used to tell me that to put things right there are three issues involved. If you insist on putting things right, you might probably do more damage than what you are going to do. Secondly if you are trying to put things right it might not be the time to do it. Thirdly, even if it is the time to do it, the people who will do it might not be there. That is why I feel sorry for leaders of countries, especially African leaders. If you successfully run an African country, then you can rule the world.
Why did we have one runway in the first place?
That’s what I told you. There was a master plan for Abuja’s second runway, but carelessness, antagonism scuttled it. It was reviewed but it didn’t go through because of political jingoism. We are the enemies of ourselves. People like us are enemies when we speak because we do not touch a kobo. And unless and until we put Nigeria first beyond any individual, we will never make any headway. When I see children crossing the road with their bags strapped at their backs, I pity them because of their future; their grand- fathers have scrapped the treasury.