The Minister of Aviation, Senator Hadi Sirika, has explained that the vibrations experienced at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), were not in any way a structural issue at the foremost airport but was rather as a result of the unlatched doors where some coolers which have just been put into use are housed.
The Minister who flew in from Abuja over allegations that there were massive vibrations which had affected the structural integrity of the airport, described the rumours as erroneous and misleading.
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He further explained that the doors were not well-latched and the vibrations happening were directly under the office Royal Air Maroc and that led to the wrong assumption that something was wrong.
This was made known in a statement signed by the General Manager, Corporate Affairs, Henrietta Yakubu on Sunday.
“Well first and foremost, it is wrong and erroneous that the structure of the Murtala Muhammed Airport is failing and there was earthquake as reported by some sections of the media, it is not so – What happened is that there was vibrations at the air handling room of the cooling system, this door is a huge metal door that needs to be locked properly – it was locked but it wasn’t latched properly, the latches were not in place and that gave rise to the vibration because there are moving parts, there are motors and fans and other things that are activated and they function the motion to create the necessary cooling system.
“Once our men were alerted, they went promptly, identified the problem which was the door, and latched the door and since then, there has been quiet, so it’s not true,” he stated.
The minister further disclosed that the engineering department was working on the chillers. “We are working on those chillers and in no distant time the airport will be quite chilled and comfortable for our passengers”.
Sirika, who admitted to the fact that there had been a power outage, however stated that there were redundancies that are dedicated to certain critical areas of the airport.
“Indeed there was power outage at the airport however, we have dedicated generators, to certain areas of the airport and those generators were working at the time we lost the power. The airfield lighting, taxiways were all working perfectly and most part of the operational aspects of the airport including the checking-in counter was working perfectly.
“The terminal building where passengers found themselves were affected but the outage did not get to the critical safety operations of the airport. The generators that would power that unit had surges and destroyed part of the activation system of the generators and took time to restore, but it has been restored now and since then, everything is working normally.
“Things like this are unforeseen. Power surges are things we cannot predict but we check that and prevent the surge from affecting us but it depends on the surge.”
He, however, noted that the government is working hard to provide alternative solutions, such that if future incidents occur, passengers would not have to notice it as the airport would continue to function normally.
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