(http://www.thenationonlineng.net/2011/thumbnail.php?file=David_mark04032011__new_527890523.jpg&size=article_medium) Senate President Mark
The Senate yesterday summoned the management of the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN), Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), National Integrated Power Project and Julius Berger Plc over outages at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja.
The Chairman, Senate Committee on Aviation, Hope Uzodinma, issued the summons after members of the committee visited the airport.
Over 200 passengers on British Airways flight from London were reported to have been forced to remain on board for over an hour on Saturday morning due to an outage.
The airline passengers were said to have been advised to remain on board for security reasons.
Uzodinma described outages at the nation’s airports as avoidable national embarrassment.
He said PHCN, NIPP, FAAN and Julius Berger were invited to articulate how to end outages at the airports.
The lawmaker noted that Julius Berger Plc was specifically invited because it procured and maintains the three generating sets at the Nnamdi Azikiwe Airport, which reportedly broke down last Saturday.
Uzodinma told reporters that since the same thing had happened three times in three months, last Saturday’s blackout aroused their interest to visit the airport to get the facts straight.
The senator said they wanted to know “what really happened, the cause and to ensure that such ugly incident does not repeat itself again”.
He added: “We have been told that there are two dedicated lines of PHCN to the airport. One has been recovered and given to the host communities, which is not a bad idea. The problem is that the recovered line has not been replaced.
“All over the world, airports are run on dedicated lines to avoid interruption. But the alternate solution is the use of generating sets. Those procured and maintained by Julius Berger Plc broke down at the same time on Saturday.
“But in the wisdom of officials of the Ministry of Aviation, they have procured three new generators for replacement of the aging generators. All we need to do now is to invite NIPP, PHCN, FAAN and Julius Berger to articulate ways and means and to agree on a permanent solution to outages at the airport. This is to ensure that the country does not receive this kind of national embarrassment and sense of insecurity any more.”
TheNation