International passengers at Kano airport groan under heat due to non-functional cooling system at newly built terminal

By Muhammed Yakubu On May 2, 2024

passengers, Kano ,airport, groan, heat , cooling system, newly built terminal , — International air passengers at Kano airport groan under heat due to non-functional cooling system at newly built terminal

Amidst weather conditions of 43 degrees Celsius in Kano, passengers at the new international terminal of Malam Aminu International Airport (MAKIA) are almost roasting with the heat at the terminal due to non-functioning air conditioners.

SolaceBase reports that the new international airport was commissioned on May 26, 2023, by President Muhammadu Buhari at a cost of over $500m.

It was a partnership between Nigeria and the Chinese government on built, operate and transfer.

However, the situation of the passengers at the terminal on Thursday was pathetic with hundreds of them kept under serious heat as the air-conditioners of the terminal cannot work with the generators whenever there is no public electricity.

A credible source told SolaceBase on Thursday that the terminal has two generators, with one due for service for over 8 months without attention and the other does not have a battery.

An irate and disappointed passenger Tahir Abdallah decried the situation saying ‘’ I have been here for the past two hours waiting for my flight to Egypt but the heat is unbearable.

‘’Do you know that the machine of the Immigration personnel switched off itself due to the heat and the personnel could not screen passengers’ passports with this situation, ‘’Abdallah laments.

Another passenger heading to Saudi Arabia, Umar Ibrahim lamented that due to the heat, he vomited twice and would not be allowed to go outside the terminal to receive fresh air because they had been screened.

‘’As I speak with you now, there are Ethiopia Airlines passengers, Saudi Arabia and Egypt Air passengers on the ground apart from a large number of deportees from Saudi which made the place congested, Ibrahim noted.

SolaceBase gathered that it all has to do with fraud, as each passenger is taxed $200 on their tickets for infrastructural facilities at the terminal but the money was said not to be remitted to the Chinese partners by Nigeria.

Hence the Chinese counterparts are said to be feeling shortchange and disappointed in the arrangement.

Efforts to speak with FAAN media office in Kano was futile as the newspaper was directed to speak with FAAN Corporate Headquarters in Lagos.