Seven years after the commencement of the construction of a transit hotel at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Lagos by the Federal Ministry of Aviation, the project has reportedly abandoned.
The construction of the hotel commenced in 2012 by former Minister of Aviation, Senator Stella Oduah but work on the site ceased after successive ministers took over the ministry.
During the flag off of the building in 2012, Oduah had said that the FG intended to build the transit hotel only for passengers who were travelling beyond Nigeria to other parts of the world just like what is obtainable in London Heathrow, Gatwick, Dubai International airport and several other European, American and African airports.
Oduah had said that most passengers with connecting flights had to either sit on the floor at the airport or drive outside the terminal to rest before the arrival of their flights and a hotel would serve as a resting place for such transit passengers.
During a tour of the airport in 2015, Hadi Sirika the Minister of State for Aviation who was then the minister of state promised to continue with the project, saying that it would improve the revenue generation for the government. But investigations reveal that some casual airport workers now use the abandoned facility as their rest place.
A recent discovery by Daily Sun also reveals that the conveyor belts at the D-wing arrival of the international wing of the Lagos airport have broken down while all flights are diverted to the E-Wing of the terminal.
This situation has caused delays for passengers as some of them have to wait for hours before they can reclaim their check-in luggage at the airport. But the General Manager, Corporate Communications of the Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), said the management had to service the facility for more efficiency. She explained that the facility had been serviced and working at present.