Members of the senate have resolved to invite the Ministers of Transportation, Aviation and Power, Works and Housing over the decision by the Federal Government to shutdown the Nnamdi Azikiwe Airport, Abuja for six weeks.

The lawmakers also summoned the Chief of Air Staff, CAS, Sadique Abubakar, as well as the managing directors of the Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria, FAAN, and the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency, NAMA.

At the resumption of plenary on Tuesday, Hope Uzodinma, a senator from Imo state, moved a motion, calling for a better plan in fixing the Abuja airport runway instead of closing down the airport for that long.

He said that the closure would bring untold hardship to travelers, adding that “The senate is determined to explore all other possible options that can avert the planned total closure of a strategic national airport for six weeks.”

‎Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, seconded the motion, saying that “There is need to repair the runway but I don’t agree with closure of the airport.”

“Many countries have repaired airports without closure,” he pointed out, before rejecting the idea of using the Kaduna airport as an alternative because according to him, “many lives have been lost on the Kaduna road.”

Also, Dino Melaye, the chairman of the Senate committee on the federal capital territory, FCT, said the proposed closure would embarrass the country.

“This will embarrass us as a country; it will affect us economically, politically and socially our aviation intellectuals must think,” he said.

The upper legislative chamber gave the invited government officials a 48-hour ultimatum to appear before it to explain the planned closure.