February 25, (THEWILL) — The Managing Director of the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA), Engr. Umar Ahmed Farouk, has assured the general public that Nigeria’s airspace remains safe despite the damage caused to equipment during the inferno that affected parts of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA) in Lagos. Engr.
Umar gave the assurance on Wednesday during an inspection tour of the airport.
After assessing the damage specifically to the agency’s equipment, the NAMA boss expressed appreciation to the stakeholders who served as first responders during the incident.
According to him, arrangements are in place for NAMA to deploy a mobile tower by Thursday or Friday, February 27, 2026.
Maintaining that air-to-ground communication will remain uninterrupted, the NAMA CEO explained that “the fire has affected our air to ground formation completely. What you see on ground now, that we are able to sustain Air Traffic Service is the backup, that will move from other places to sustain Lagos.”
Regarding the monetary value of the equipment destroyed by the fire, Umar stated that it was currently impossible to provide an exact figure.
“It is going to be very difficult for me to tell you the magnitude of the loss. It will take us a while for us to do so. We are working on it,” he said.
Recounting how he first received news of the fire, he recalled that “the incident happened on the 23 February but we were in the management meeting when this incident was reported. I immediately dispatched Director of Operations and Engineering to come and see things for themselves on ground.
“What we saw actually was a huge loss as far as communication is concerned and other air traffic services were really disrupted. So we had no option at that time than to suspend inbound aircraft into Lagos.”
The airport community was thrown into confusion on Monday following the fire outbreak that engulfed parts of the fourth and fifth floors of Terminal One at MMIA, triggering a massive emergency response and a temporary disruption of flight operations.
Anthony Awunor, is a business correspondent who holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Linguistics (UNILAG). He is also an alumnus of the Nigerian College of Aviation Technology (NCAT), Zaria Kaduna State. He lives in Lagos.
