by Akan Ido

The Federal Government, yesterday, said that it had temporarily shut down Kaduna airport to flight operations following a fire outbreak at the airport which completely destroyed air traffic control equipment.

Disclosing this to newsmen, General Manager, Public Affairs, Nigerian Airspace Management Agency, NAMA, Mr. Supo Atobatele, said the fire outbreak was attributed to power surge which eventually engulfed the entire tower.

He said all the personnel on duty at the tower were safely evacuated, stressing that there were no serious casualties.

Atobatele noted that the agency had already issued a NOTAM (Notice To Air Men) informing operating airlines locally and across the world of the temporary closure of the airport.

Meanwhile, Managing Director of NAMA,  Ibrahim Abdulsalam, has directed the immediate deployment of the agency’s mobile tower currently in Abuja to Kaduna airport to resume normal services by sunset today.

He said: “There is no cause for alarm as we are on top of the situation. Our mobile tower is capable of handling normal traffic as it is well equipped with necessary ATC console  to do that.”