The Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA) has countered the
claim by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) that bad
weather was part of the reasons the commission postponed the elections.
NAMA in a statement issued on Sunday by Khalid Emele, its General
Manager, Public Affairs, accused INEC of making excuses to justify its
inability to carry on with the elections.
INEC Chairman, Mahmood Yakubu, explaining the reasons for the
postponement just few hours to the commencement of the general election,
had claimed that flights were affected by bad weather and as such the
commission could not transport election materials by air.
He was quoted saying: “Unfortunately, in the last one week, flights
within the country have been adversely affected by bad weather. For
instance, three days ago, we were unable to deliver materials to some
locations due to bad weather.
“We, therefore, had to rely on slow-moving long haulage vehicles to
locations that can be serviced by air in spite of the fact that we
created five zonal airport hubs Abuja (North-Central), Port Harcourt
(South-South and South-East), Kano (North-West), Maiduguri and Yola
(North-East) and Lagos (South-West) to facilitate the delivery of
electoral logistics.”
But, Emele in response to the claim by INEC, said the Nigerian
airspace worked 24hrs on Friday in order to transport election materials
for the commission.
The statement read: “The Management of the Nigerian Airspace
Management Agency (NAMA) hereby wishes to inform the general public that
there was no disruption in the provision of air traffic services on
Saturday, the 16th of February 2019 in line with the agency’s mandate to
provide uninterrupted safe, effective, efficient, and economic air
navigation services in the country.
“Furthermore, the agency in line with the directive of the Honourable
Minister of State (Aviation), Sen. Hadi Sirika, had earlier ensured a
24-hour operation at all Nigerian airports on Friday 15th February 2019
to facilitate the transportation of INEC materials nationwide
“NAMA wishes to reassure all airspace users and the general public
that the Nigerian airspace shall remain open for all airspace users
before, during and after the rescheduled 2019 general election.
“Thus, the agency has put in place appropriate contingency measures
to ensure safe flight operations within the period, as well as possible
extension of operational hours of any domestic airport when the need
arises.”
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