Minister of aviation and aerospace development Festus Keyamo said on Friday that the House of Representatives did not ask him to revoke the airstrip license granted to private individuals and organisations including Living Faith Church founded by Bishop David Oyedepo.
Mr Keyamo stated this on Friday while reacting to a report of the House’s adoption of a motion moved by Rep. Sulaiman Gumi (APC, Zamfara) over the approval of airstrips.
Gumi expressed security concerns, referring to the September 2014 case where a religious leader, whose name he did not mention, was allegedly linked to a private jet used to convey $9.3 million in cash to South Africa for the purchase of arms.
Keyamo wrote on X that while Gumi’s intention was very patriotic, it was based on a “complete lack of knowledge of the aviation sector.”
He added, “The responsibility of the owners of private airstrips is just to build the runway and terminal building. But after they built the control tower in particular, it is completely handed over to the Federal Government through NAMA (Nigerian Airspace Management Agency) which is in complete control of the entire airspace in Nigeria. An MOU is usually signed with NAMA in this regard before the airstrip is approved for operations.
“It is NAMA that provides the Air Traffic Controllers and Engineers in ALL AIRPORTS and AIRSTRIPS IN NIGERIA. And the private’s airstrip owners pay the Federal Government handsomely for these services.
“No object flies into Nigeria without the prior clearance by NAMA and without filing a clear flight plan like where it is taking off from and where it intends to land.”
Keyamo said he recently directed that all aircraft coming into the country must first land at the international airports where they would be properly processed and checked before they make their local flights into whatever airport or airstrip they intend to go.
