Video shows roof leakage at Lagos airport

A video emerged on social media showing a heavy downpour of rain flowing through the damaged roofs of the Murtala Mohammed International Airport, Lagos.

After the video sparked a backlash on social media, the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) was forced to react to it.

According to a statement by Acting General Manager, Corporate Affairs, Henrietta Yakubu, there is ongoing construction works at the airport, and the leaking roof was a part of it.

According to her, "It is regrettable that the story, which was capable of creating fear in the minds of intending passengers, was not based on an assessment of the said facility by the reporters.

"This is more so because the reporters could easily have cross-checked their facts with our Corporate Affairs Department before going public with such a sensitive issue.

"Following this malicious video clip targeted to tarnish the authority’s hard earned reputation, management wishes to put the records straight that the leaking roof was as a result of the on-going works at the MMIA, Lagos.

"This upgrade is coming on the heels of the Executive Order issued recently by the Presidency aimed at Ease of Doing Business in Nigeria, and the authority is doing everything possible to improve the quality of her services in line with the order.

"Sequel to this on-going works, we recently experienced some leakages from the roof at the "D Wing" of the Terminal of Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos, owing to a heavy rain accompanied by a wind storm.

"This is directly connected to the civil engineering works going on at the roof top at that location, which temporarily interrupted our engineers who are replacing the old roof members with new ones at that instance."

She further said that the affected roof has been fixed after the surfaced video was captured.

"It was practically impossible to work at that location due to its altitude and slipperiness while the rains lasted, but work immediately resumed after the rain subsided, and the integrity of roof was restored.

"We want to state clearly that this defect did not affect operations in any way or at any time at the terminal."