Four months after it was re-opened for business by the Minister of Aviation, Mr. Babatunde Omotoba, the domestic runway of the Murtala Muhammed Airport in Ikeja, Lagos, has remained in total darkness.

The domestic runway was closed in 2003 for repairs and re-opened in December, 2008, without air-field lighting. During the closure, passengers had to be taxied from the Murtala Muhammed Airport Terminal Two (MMA2) or the General Aviation Terminal (GAT) to the international runway for take-offs. On arrival, passengers would land at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport and then are taxied to the local terminals.

The situation made some airlines to operate domestic flights from the international airport. Before the re-opening, domestic airlines had complained of losing millions of naira in jet fuel each time they arrive or depart the Lagos domestic airport. But six years after the runway was shut for repairs and four months after it reopened, aircraft cannot land or take-off from there at night. The air-field lightings guide aircraft at night and no landing or take-off can occur without them.

During the commissioning of the runway, the delighted Minister of Aviation had announced that the lighting of the runway would be completed within a year. But PM.NEWS investigations have revealed that work has not even begun, four months after. PM.NEWS learnt that the lighting of the runway would cost about N2 billion. But the figure was not confirmed by the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria, FAAN. Meanwhile, PM.NEWS can reveal that the Total Radar Coverage for Nigeria, TRACON, meant to make the country’s airspace fully visible, has not made any meaningful progress since some equipment broke down and were sent back to France for repairs, late last year