"The removal of illegal structures is also scheduled to be carried out at all other airports that have similar challenges," it said.
The Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) says that buildings encroaching on airport land in Lagos and other parts of the country will be demolished.
The agency made this known in a statement issued Tuesday by its Corporate Affairs Assistant General Manager, Faithful Hope-Ivbaze.
"The authority hereby uses this opportunity to advise all illegal occupants to relocate from all airport lands for their own safety and security, " the statement said.
FAAN's statement came against the backdrop of a recent demolition exercise it carried out in Lagos.
On Sunday, about 13 houses within Ajao Estate and Shasha axis of Lagos were demolished by the Lagos State Building Control Agency (LSBCA) and FAAN over alleged "encroachment".
Background
FAAN in its statement explained that the Murtala Mohammed Airport land was acquired for public use by the federal government through the Lands Acquisition Ordinance by FGN official gazettes in 1944, 1972, and 1975 respectively.
However, sometime in the year 2000, the agency said it noticed some encroachments within its acquired land in Lagos and a committee was set up to investigate and compel those encroaching to cease and desist from such actions.
"These warnings were not heeded," the statement said.
"Publications were done in national dailies and advertorial jingles in local radio stations, warning people of the risks in purchasing and building on restricted aviation land."
In 2008, FAAN said some residents of the Ajao Estate axis of the encroached land, under the aegis of "Runview Cooperative", approached the agency for regularisation of their stay on the land.
To avoid a situation of wanton damage and colossal losses, it said the present administration, on assuming office, inaugurated a 'Regularization Committee on FAAN Encroached Lands and Property'.
"The committee was charged with finding ways of identifying and regularising only those properties located in positions that do not pose a direct and critical challenge to airport safety and Security," it said.
FAAN explained that its directorates of airport operations and aviation security commenced stakeholders' engagements and met with the residents of the Ajao axis and that all meetings were recorded and filed.
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It said the engagement brought to their knowledge the dangers of erecting houses on pipelines, waterways and the airport's perimeter fence, blocking access for security patrols.
"Most of the residents cooperated, except for the few who ignored and continued erecting their structures in the 'Red Zones'," the statement added.
Regularisation
In the committee's report submitted in 2022, FAAN said out of 254 buildings evaluated, 220 buildings were recommended for regularisation, as they pose no direct or critical security and safety challenges to the airport.
"They have been duly regularised," the statement added.
It added that the 34 others that were built within FAAN's perimeter fence and mostly erected above the aviation fuel pipeline and waterways, clearly posing direct safety and security challenges to the Airport as well as to their owners/ occupants themselves, were marked for demolition.
"The occupants of these buildings were duly notified of the impending demolitions, and an intensive awareness campaign through "stop work" markings and planting of notice boards within the Red Zone," FAAN said.
Based on these concerns, the agency said it wrote to the Lagos State government in September 2022, for their cooperation in conducting the demolition exercise in the interest of aviation and communal safety and security.
"The removal of illegal structures is also scheduled to be carried out at all other airports that have similar challenges," it said.
