Senator Hadi Sirika, the minister of aviation, stated yesterday that the Senate is powerless to halt the ongoing demolition of offices belonging to organisations engaged in aviation-related work at Lagos’s Murtala Mohammed International Airport.
At the conclusion of the weekly Federal Executive Council, FEC, meeting, which was held in the Council Chamber of the Presidential Villa in Abuja under the chairmanship of President Muhammadu Buhari, Senator Sirika made this statement.
His statement came after the Senate passed a resolution ordering the government to halt demolition so the Senate Committee on Aviation, led by Senator Biodun Olujimi, could make an intervention.
Olujimi had brought the warning strike by the National Association of Aircrafts Pilots and Engineers, the Union of Air Transport Employees, the Air Transport Services Senior Staff Association of Nigeria, and the Association of Nigeria Aviation Professionals to the attention of the upper legislative chamber.
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Sirika insisted, in response to a question on the subject, that the Senate resolution is merely advisory and cannot prevent the government from carrying out its duties.
“First, let’s put things in perspective. The government plans to demolish the building that houses the managing director of FAAN’s office as well as those commercial structures.
It’s a wooden structure that has been there for 40 years. Even under our administration, it has caught fire twice. We want to build hotels, malls, offices, movie theatres, and other things there to make room for better development of what Lagos has evolved into. This will allow FAAN to generate more revenue, among other things.
“And there are about 150 or 200 people in the entire building. There is no stopping the government from continuing to provide for the needs of its citizens because the Senate serves an advisory and executive function and is not subject to legal restrictions.
“We have been working on that issue for a while; after winning in the Supreme Court, they had to make way for development. This is in the interest of the country.
Nobody can argue with the government indefinitely. Who is going to stop me as a government if I want to demolish this hall and construct a better one?
So, in my opinion, there is no problem; they are simply overheating it, and you already know why. But we are not afraid because we have a duty and a mission.
