Again, an electrical fault paralysed activities at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA) at about six o’clock this morning. This year alone, several power failures have disrupted activities at Nigeria’s busiest airport.

During a recent blackout that lasted  several hours,  hundreds of passengers made use of candles and phone light to see.  Officials of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), the Customs, the police and other security agencies at the country’s busiest airport could not perform their duties for some time due to the blackout.

Passengers who were being checked were allowed to pass security checks unchecked as most equipment at the airport function with electricity. The two generators at the airport could not be powered while the incident lasted.

Our correspondent learnt that it took the intervention of some engineers from the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) to restore power at the airport.

An eye witness told P.M.NEWS that the heat at the airport was unbearable while the darkness persisted as passengers fanned themselves to cool off.

When it was all over, our correspondent learnt, air travellers were relieved as some clapped their hands while foreign travellers stared in amazement.


When P.M.NEWS called FAAN’s General Manager, Mr. Akin Olukunle, to speak about today’s power outage that lasted about  5 minutes, he did not return our call at the time of writing this story.

—Simon Ateba