The Nigerian Airspace Management Agency disclosed on Wednesday that the fire which engulfed the Old Terminal of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport on Monday completely destroyed its equipment used for air-to-ground communications.

Managing Director of NAMA, Umar Farouk, however, said backup systems had been deployed to the airport to sustain operations in Lagos.

Addressing newsmen after touring the facility to assess the damage caused by the fire, he said he could not yet put a figure on the magnitude of the loss.

His words: “The fire has affected our air-to-ground communication completely. What you see on ground to sustain air traffic service is the backup that we moved from other places to sustain Lagos. The truth of the matter is that with what I have seen, we have a lot to do when we are out of the situation. It is going to be very difficult for me to tell the magnitude of the loss, it will take us a while to do so.

“We were in a management meeting when this incident was reported. I immediately dispatched the directors of operations and engineering to come and see things for themselves. What we saw actually was a huge loss as far as communication is concerned. Also, air traffic services were really disrupted.

“We had no option at that time than to suspend inbound aircraft into Lagos. But good enough, the Director of Operations was around and there was a prompt response to the emergency situation in which we found ourselves.

“We are happy to say that the communication and air control remains uninterrupted. And this is the fact that NAMA is full of professionals who are always ready to address this kind of unfortunate incident. I want to assure Nigerians and the flying public that the Nigerian airspace still remains safe because we take safety as sacrosanct.

“I am happy that no life was lost, and what we are trying to do now is to improve on what we have done so far. I want to assure Nigerians that the air-to-ground communications will remain uninterrupted.”