Minister of State (Aviation), Hadi Sirika yesterday explained that the vibrations experienced at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA) was not in any way a structural issue at the foremost airport but as a result of the unlatched doors where the coolers which have just been put into use are housed.
Minister who flew in from Abuja over allegations that there were massive vibrations that has affected the structural integrity of the airport, described the rumours as erroneous and misleading explaining 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.
“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.
“That door responded to the vibration and because it wasn’t latched, it was vibrating and that vibration was directly under the counter of Royal Air Maroc and they assumed the structure was vibrating to the point of collapse.”
“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.”
The minister further disclosed that the engineering department was working on the chillers too stating,” We are working on those chillers and in no distant time the airport will be quite chilled and comfortable for our passengers.”
On the issue of the power outage that was reported, Sirika said there was power outage but there were redundancies that are dedicated to certain critical areas of the airport.
