Accident Investigation Bureau’s Lagos office marked for demolition to pave way for expansion of the airside for the new international terminal at Murtala Muhammed Airport.

Confusion is brewing in the aviation sector as the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) plans to demolish facilities to pave way for the new terminal of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Lagos.

Those to be affected include the Accident Investigation Bureau(AIB) building, Dominion Aviation Limited and Evergreen Apple Nigeria (EAN), hangars, and offices.

The new terminal was built with a $500 million loan from the Chinese Import-Export Bank.

Experts say property worth N20 billion may be lost to the relocation.

Speaking during an inspection of the Lagos Airport, members of the National Assembly Joint Committee on Aviation called for caution in tackling the matter because of the huge losses and disruption the project will trigger.

The development got worse at the weekend, as staff members of the  AIB, in its Lagos Office, were ordered to resume at the Bureau’s headquarters in Abuja by the Ministry of Aviation without relocation allowances.

Sources said the Administrative Department of the bureau recently issued a memo to  the staff members of the bureau to resume in Abuja by yesterday. It warned that defaulters would be sanctioned.

At the weekend, staff members of the bureau were seen outside the premises moving their belongings out. Some of them lamented that they were only given two days to comply with the directive.

One of the staff members, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, wondered why the management would issue such a directive to the workers when relocation allowances had not been paid to them.

He also decried that over 90 per cent of the workers were yet to collect January 2022 salaries and wondered where they would get the money to relocate.

The source said: “We, on Wednesday, received a letter from the Administration Department, which directed us to move to Abuja without prior notice. We were given till Monday to relocate to Abuja even when we don’t have a befitting office there and nothing is being said about our accommodation. And as we stand, no one is talking about relocation allowances to the workers. Read more