President Muhammadu Buhari on Tuesday, 22 March 2022, commissioned a newly constructed international terminal at Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Lagos, marking the completion of a project first begun under a Chinese loan facility nearly a decade earlier.
The new terminal, built on approximately 56,000 square metres, was constructed with financing from a loan facility with the Exim Bank of China first approved in 2012 as part of a wider programme to build new international terminals across four Nigerian airports, including Abuja, Port Harcourt, and Kano. Construction on the Lagos facility began in late 2013.
Capacity and Purpose
The new terminal has capacity to process approximately 14 million passengers a year, and is intended to complement rather than replace MMIA's existing terminal, which has served as Nigeria's busiest airport gateway for more than four decades. "It is with great pleasure that I am here today to perform the official commissioning of the newly constructed terminal building," President Buhari said at the ceremony, noting that similar terminal projects at Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, and Port Harcourt International Airport had already been completed under his administration.
The President added that the Kano terminal had also been completed and would be commissioned in due course, while work continued on a similar facility at Enugu.
Transition Ahead
Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) officials indicated that airlines would begin transitioning operations to the new terminal in the weeks following commissioning, alongside a planned memorandum of understanding with the Lagos State Government covering a new access road linking the airport to the Shasha-Alimosho corridor. Officials described the new terminal as a significant upgrade in passenger experience for travellers using Nigeria's busiest airport.
