The Minister of Aviation, Mr Babatunde Omotoba, has said that the Federal Government will demolish the old domestic terminal of the Murtala Muhammed Airport, Ikeja, to give way for the construction of a new one.

Omotoba, who spoke yesterday at the Nigerian College of Aviation Technology (NCAT), Zaria, at a training workshop for aviation correspondents, said a private developer has already secured the approval of the President for the project.

The project which he said would address the problems of congestion at the airport, would be driven by the government’s public private partnership concept.

The minister also said that a consortium of businessmen have agreed to build a new terminal at the Port Harcourt International airport, at a cost of over $400 million .

He explained that additional terminals would be built at the Lagos, and Abuja international airports to create additional parking space to accommodate larger aircrafts of the Airbus 380 category.

Omotoba said another group of investors, who had hitherto abandoned the aircraft maintenance hangar project at the Lagos International airport, has pledged to complete the project designed to boost aviation safety with $350 million.

Omotoba stated that his greatest challenge in managing the aviation industry, is the presence of too many experts and interests, adding that he had to step on big toes to deliver an aviation industry that will attain global standards.

He said he has taken steps to check financial leakages in the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria(FAAN), a move he said that has saved the authority over N800 million. The savings, he said, has been used for the purchase of diesel and another $100 million spent in the payment of insurance premium.

He explained that the $460 million loan secured from the World Bank was utilised to service critical safety areas in the industry arising from the air crashes of 2005 and 2006 involving Bellview, ADC and Sosoliso.

He affirmed that there was no cover up in the airlines that failed to pay the mandatory compensation claims to the families of crash victims, stating that it would be morally wrong to allow such airlines return to the skies without paying compensation.

"We are working very hard through different meetings to ensure that both ADC and Sosoliso Airlines pay compensation to the affected families before they could be allowed to fly again. If we allow them, we will have failed by not meeting public scrutiny.