FAAN asks illegal occupants to relocate from airport lands

The Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) has advised all illegal occupants of airport lands to relocate for their safety and security.

Mrs Faithful Hope-Ivbaze, Acting General Manager, Corporate Affairs, FAAN, made this known in a statement issued in Lagos on Tuesday.

Hope-Ivbaze said the removal of illegal structures would be carried out at all other airports that have similar challenges.

She said the notification was in respect to the recent demolition of 13 houses which posed danger to the operations of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport.

She revealed that in 2020, the organisation noticed some encroachments within its acquired land in Lagos and a committee was set up to investigate and compel encroachers to desist from such actions.

“In the committee’s report submitted in 2022, out of 254 buildings evaluated, 220 buildings were recommended for regularisation, as they pose no direct/critical security and safety challenges to the Airport. They have been duly regularized.

“The 34 others that were built within FAAN’s perimeter fence and mostly erected above the aviation fuel pipeline and waterways, clearly posing direct safety and security challenges to the Airport as well as to their owners/ occupants themselves, were marked for demolition,” she said.

Hope-Ivbaze said the occupants of the buildings were duly notified of the impending demolition by intensive awareness campaign through “stop work” markings and planting of notice boards within the Red Zone.

The general manager said a committee put up “Caveat Emptors” and positioned them strategically within the areas under encroachment

She said that publications were done in national dailies and local radio stations, notifying people of the risks in purchasing and building on Restricted Aviation Land.

She noted that such building was without consideration of the dangers on aircraft operations and the building occupants.

“To avoid a situation of wanton damage and colossal losses, the present administration, on assuming office, inaugurated a “Regularization Committee on FAAN Encroached Lands and Property.

“The committee was charged with finding ways of identifying and regularizing only those properties located in positions that do not pose a direct and critical challenges to airport safety and security.

“The FAAN directorates of Airport Operations and Aviation Security commenced stakeholders’ engagements and met severally with the residents of the Ajao axis in which all meetings recorded and filed.

“The meeting brought to their knowledge the dangers of erecting houses on pipelines, waterways and the airport’s perimeter fence blocking access for security patrols.

“Most of the residents cooperated, except for the few who ignored and continued erecting their structures in the red zones,” she said.

The general manager said it was imperative to note that area of land presently housing the Lagos Airport was acquired for public use by the Federal Government of Nigeria.

She said the land was acquired through the Lands Acquisition Ordinance by FGN Official Gazettes in 1944, 1972, and 1975 respectively.

Hope-Ivbaze reiterated FAAN’s commitment to adhere to its core values of safety, security and comfort.