MMIA INFERNO: How ‘50-year-old’ sprinklers saved the day — Director of Airport Operations, FAAN

2026-03-01 - 12:26

•Says ATCs stayed in burning tower to land four aircraft •Clarifies Malabo, Abuja, Accra flight rerouting •‘Pointing fingers won’t help’ By Dickson Omobola On Monday, February 23, 2025, a fire gutted the Old Terminal of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, MMIA, Lagos, also known as Terminal I, planned for renovation by Federal Government. While no lives were lost, the inferno destroyed vital weather equipment belonging to the Nigerian Meteorological Agency, NiMet, and air-to-ground communication systems of the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency, NAMA. In this exclusive interview, Director of Airport Operations at the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria, FAAN, Captain Abdullahi Mahmood, shares insights into how sprinklers installed at the terminal 50 years ago helped douse the fire. Mahmood also speaks on the reasons flights were diverted, among other issues. Excerpts: There are those who do not agree with the idea of diverting flights to Malabo, Equatorial Guinea, and Abuja. To get an insight, what necessitated that decision? Technically, as a pilot, whenever you are going to an airport, you are also planning for your alternates. Before you depart, you will be given your alternate airport information just in case your destination airport has an issue such as weather-related problems or airport closure. But whatever it is, you have to plan for diversion. In aviation, diversion is a standard procedure. For those asking why we had to divert some aircraft, NAMA had already closed down the airspace and there were no air traffic controllers to clear those aircraft for landing. There is no airport where you can land without landing clearance. So, British Airways diverted to Abuja, and that is perfect. Why would they divert to Abuja? British Airways has an operational base in Abuja. Emirates diverted to Accra, which is also a base. If anything happens there, they have their staff in Accra. Lufthansa diverted to Malabo, which is better for them. If you have noticed Lufthansa operations, when they come to Lagos, they drop passengers and continue to Malabo. After dropping passengers in Malabo, they pick Frankfurt passengers and take them to Lagos. After that, they pick Frankfurt passengers from Lagos again back to Frankfurt. That diversion saved them one landing. Air Peace, which was coming back from Gatwick, also diverted to Abuja that same day. Again, diversion is standard and there is absolutely nothing wrong in doing that. You can have 100 runways in an airport, but once the airport is closed, you cannot use any of the runways because you cannot land without clearance. The NAMA personnel who were there did a fantastic job. In fact, when that fire broke out, there were four aircraft that needed to be cleared to land, and they took it upon themselves to do so. They waited in that tower until they landed those aircraft. After clearing those aircraft to land, they could not get out. That was why we had to move them by crane. I think those people should be applauded because they are saviours. While a lot of people have commended your quick response to the fire, some said FAAN did not do enough. What were the strategies you used to avert what could have been a national tragedy? Our emergency response was really good, thanks to the collaboration of all the agencies. Every single emergency protocol was activated that day, and it worked. The police, Lagos State Government, National Emergency Management Agency, NEMA, the Air Force, everybody was there. Immediately that happened, whoever we called was ready to help. Our firemen performed wonderfully. Normally, once you have an issue, you just activate the Emergency Operations Center, EOC. Everybody concerned, including the airport manager, who is the chairman of the EOC, was in that EOC. We sat down to coordinate, collected all the reports and made decisions. How do you react to those who said the fire could not be extinguished quickly because FAAN did not ensure that the terminal had sprinklers? Surprisingly, one of the reasons that terminal was going to be renovated is because of the comatose state of the building and some of the equipment there, including the plumbing and electrical systems. Yes, we expected that some of the sprinklers would also not work. But to surprise you, some of the sprinklers that had been there for 50 years were the ones that saved us on the day of the incident. When the fire outbreak happened, the fire truck sprayed water, but unfortunately, there were certain places the water could not penetrate. The team of firemen comprising NEMA, the Federal Fire Service, the State Fire Service and FAAN firemen walked into that building. When they got into the building, the only way they could fight the fire was to use the sprinklers. When they activated those sprinklers, some of the sprinklers saved us that day because they worked. Do you think that the fire could have been better contained if the terminal was not old and in need of renovation? Fire is not something that you anticipate or say, this is the damage that this fire is going to cause. We have seen fire outbreaks around the world. Look at the Heathrow airport fire, for example, the airport was shut down and about 1,300 flights were affected. In situations like this, what is required are preventive measures to see how you are going to prevent it from happening. But when it happens, it is left for you to start fighting it. If you are lucky to fight it, that is fine. But if you are not lucky, there is nothing that can be done. Although the minister has dismissed talks that the fire outbreak could be a result of sabotage, what can you say about this? We have been seeing a lot of these conspiracy theories. However, as the minister and the MD have said, it is nothing. If we start engaging in conspiracy theories, it distracts us from what we are supposed to do. The fire has happened. An investigation is going on and will continue until we get to the root cause of what really happened. At this moment, there is a lot of speculation. The real professionals who understand this are out there doing their job. I think at this point, we want to give them the chance to do their job and give us the report of the investigation. FAAN was very proactive when this incident happened. The MD was virtually everywhere, yet provided us with vital information. As the leader, how much did her proactiveness help in that situation? Technically, whenever you see proper coordination, I strongly believe it comes from leadership. When you have leadership that gives you the opportunity to do things without so much interference, you will see that coordination. That is what I have seen here. If you look at it, the President has given the minister a mandate without interfering in that mandate. The minister has now escalated that mandate to the leadership of FAAN, which is the MD, who leads from the front. Even though you get tired, she never gets tired. Also, take a look at the minister, who landed in Lagos at 12 midnight to show leadership, and we were all at the airport till 1:30 am I do not think there was anybody that needed to be called that day in Nigeria that she did not speak to, the Presidency, concerned ministers, governors. The Lagos State governor was on call with her multiple times. Lagos State deployed literally all their emergency response to the airport that day. We called the police and, in less than 30 minutes, they deployed their helicopter. For those who were trapped in the control tower, how were you able to bring them out? The tower had layers. They came out from inside their control tower. They came down and were standing on the balcony. There is this man, Friday Yahaya, he was their supervisor that day. I knew he was there, so I was calling him. We were just telling them to move away from where the smoke was coming from. They were standing and were really okay where they were. But the challenge was how to get them from that place to the upper deck. The firemen, NEMA and our fire personnel had to go in. Fortunately for them, the smoke did not penetrate the last staircase. The team went into the staircase and brought them out to the upper deck. Were they unconscious at that moment? No, they were fine. I was talking to them on the phone. The smoke did not get to them because they were standing on the balcony. However, they were just standing without masks or anything. Like I said, because there was no smoke in the staircase, it did not affect them. They brought them down to the upper deck. They then used the crane to move them in about four batches because the bucket of the crane could only carry about four people. To my surprise, the same guys came down, walked straight to the watch room, created another tower and started controlling the aircraft. How were those in charge able to swiftly reopen the airspace for flights? Technically, when incidents like this occur, the entire ecosystem is affected. When I say the ecosystem is affected, I mean the whole network. You have international flights coming in, carrying passengers who have connecting flights. So once a flight is delayed at that point, how will those passengers make their connections? Will they have extended layovers? Will they be rebooked? What happens next? We are not only looking at Lagos airport. Beyond Lagos airport, domestic airlines were also affected. Passengers were left waiting, and some crew members were running out of duty time. Even when the airport reopens, it does not mean everyone can depart at the same time. Fortunately, everyone was able to manage the situation, stabilise operations and clear the backlog as quickly as possible. Immediately the fire happened, a video circulated that the airport had been shared... I do not know whether an airport has turned into a cake that everybody takes his or her own share. I do not even know how you can share an airport. I think people just like to come out and say things just because they have data and can go on the internet and talk without verifying and trying to understand things. I think everywhere you go in the world, when a particular organisation or person is in a situation, everybody should rally around and see how to save the situation. It is not about starting to point fingers. Pointing fingers will not save our situation. Aviation is global. Aviation is not localised. Whatever we do, the whole world is watching. The whole world is watching us and seeing how we do things. Are we doing it right? We might make mistakes, which is normal, but we will overcome them. Many airports across the world have recorded fire incidents. How are you going to rate your response to this situation? Well, two things: if I rate myself, definitely you know how I am going to rate myself. But to be fair, you would definitely give FAAN a higher rating because our response time was fast. Yes, there are gaps. Can we do better? Yes, we can do better. But at this point, I can say we did very well. The response and the reaction show that our safety management system was on point throughout. We went to the temporary terminal and saw that everything had been put in place. How were you able to do that in record time? President Bola Tinubu has given approval for the terminal to be renovated and there is a timeframe within which it is to be finished. When we brought the consultant and the contractor on board, we told them the timeframe. Now, it is left for the contractor to make it possible to meet this timeline. And you cannot meet this timeline without providing these alternate arrangements. Can you give an overview of what that airport will look like? One thing I can tell you is that by the time that work is completed, Nigeria will be proud of it. When this project started, the minister and the MD said they did not want the mistakes of the past. The first thing they did was to get one of the best consulting firms in the world, ARUP, which is handling the consultation for Heathrow Terminal 5. They are very strict. I was in a meeting with them, and I heard the questions they asked the Chinese contractors, which are things I never fathomed in my head. I am not an engineer; it is not my field. The MD is not an engineer, the minister is not an engineer. So, because of this, we need somebody who is a professional to give us that comfort, and we went for ARUP. Is the 22 months timeframe still achievable? They will do it in less than that, trust me. From what they are doing, who would have thought by now these people would have pulled down those bridges? The only thing slowing them down is that the concessionaires are still inside. They are more than ready.