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The Supervising Minister of Aviation, Dr. Samuel Ortom, yesterday called on the private sector to invest in infrastructure development projects in the aviation sector to grow the nation’s economy.
Ortom, who made the call in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja, said aviation industry needed massive infrastructure development.
He said in spite of the development that had taken place through the remodelling programme of the transformation agenda, there was need for more infrastructures.
“We need more infrastructures to make a complete airport system in our country like the parking area, restaurants and several other facilities that are needed.
“Government at this time is working hand in hand with the organised private sector and genuine investors who are interested in investing in the aviation industry to come and invest.
“We will provide the enabling environment and the platform for investments,’’ Ortom said.
According to him, some investors are beginning to indicate interest, some have done their survey and have gone back to do their due diligence.
He said that as soon as the ministry got these proposals, they would ensure that due process of the Federal Government was carried out.
Ortom said that the ministry was doing everything possible to close the gap that was existing in its internally generated revenue “because we believe that we can make a lot of money to develop our infrastructures.’’
The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) visited the country recently to assess the nation’ airports to ascertain whether they met the international standard.
Speaking on the outcome of the visit, Ortom said that FAA Category One was at the stage of verification.
He said that the visit was a periodic programme by the Federal Aviation Service of America to assess and verify the essence of compliance to their standard.
He said that the essence of the visit was to access what was on ground, then identify areas that could be ratified within 60 days “that is the stage we are.’’
“They have identified certain areas that we need to work on, especially on capacity building and issues of some amendments in the rules.
Ortom assured Nigerians that all the issues that were raised would be complied with, “so we were expecting that at the end of the verification Nigeria will maintain Category One.’’
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