I will resign if Abuja airport is not reopened as scheduled-Sirika

Hadi SirikaNigeria’s minister of aviation, Hadi Sirika, has said he would send in his resignation if at the scheduled time, the airport is not re-opened.In response to a question asked him at a meeting with aviation stakeholders, “What happens if we don’t beat the deadline in six weeks? “I will resign” was Sirika’s response. “When I mooted the idea of closing down the airport for six weeks, nobody believed me. My luck was that a few of my colleagues and the President believed that I cannot be that stupid to take this harsh, deep, huge decision on behalf of 180 million people if I did not know what I’m doing”, he said.But the chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Aviation, Nkiru Onyejeocha, did not share their optimism, especially about meeting the deadline.“I have concerns that this work may not be completed,” Onyejeocha told newsmen after her committee visited the airport. “We have concerns about the lighting and the mechanical works.”However, the Federal Government said the contractors were on schedule to complete the rehabilitation within the six-week window.The country’s minister on information and culture, Lai Mohammed, who believed it was doable, said “The six weeks life of the closure remains; after six weeks, the Abuja airport would be reopened.”The remaining work to be done, according to the minister would not necessitate an extended closure of the airport.