By Giwa SHILE
Gov. Godwin Obaseki of Edo on Thursday, condemned the theft of materials in the Instrument Landing System (ILS) at the Benin Airport.
The ILS, a radio navigation system which provides aircraft with horizontal and vertical guidance before and during landing, is being installed at the airport.
Some items in the Glide Slope and cables inside the unit were stolen on Sunday night.
Obaseki, who condemned the development when he visited the airport on Thursday to inspect the facility, ordered immediate investigation into the incident and said that the culprits must be brought to book.
He rose from a closed-door meeting with the Commander, 107 Air Maritime Group, Nigeria Air Force, Benin, Wing Commander Fatai Ganiyu and officials of FAAN and NAMA, to express the displeasure.
He disclosed that the affected cables and other components that made up the ILS were still being installed by the state government in collaboration with relevant federal agencies to enable the airport operate 24-hour service.
Obaseki directed that the Air Force commander and Directorate of State Service (DSS) Director in the state to immediately launch investigation into the incident.
“I assured Edo people that our airport will render 24 hours services.
“We have been working on that with the relevant federal agencies to see how we can get the necessary equipment put in place to allow this happen.
“We have been able to secure the ILS and the necessary equipment; we also have an agreement to put runway lights so that planes can be guided to land at nights.
“Work has started but there is little incident as some of the equipment bought last week have been stolen.
“We have brought in security agencies to investigate and get the culprit arrested and ensure the work proceed as desired,’’ he said.
The governor said that the state government provided bulk of the resources being used for the ILS project, not minding that the airport was a federal asset.
“Our goal is to ensure that before the harmattan season, Benin Airport will be ready to function as a 24-7 airport and more importantly, have the landing system to navigate flights even in bad weather.
