‘Automatic switchover had challenges’ — FAAN confirms blackout at Lagos int’l airport

The Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) says efforts are being made to fix and restore power supply at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA) in Lagos.

The aviation agency spoke in a post on its official X handle while confirming the incident on Saturday evening.

On Saturday, TheCable had posted a video on the microblogging platform, capturing the sudden power outage at the airport.

The incident had left travellers in the dark for three minutes, eliciting several reactions from travellers and store owners who mocked the state of infrastructure at the facility.

Responding to TheCable’s post, FAAN explained that the incident happened during the process of switching power sources after losing electricity from the national grid.

The agency said it is working hard to restore the supply, adding that alternative sources are currently being used.

“We experienced a 2-3 minute outage at Murtala Muhammed International Airport yesterday, February 2nd 2024 while switching over to our backup power supply after losing power from the Grid,” FAAN said.

“The electrical team has identified the challenges with the automatic switch over and is working judiciously to restore this immediately. 

“We have put a plan in place leveraging the alternative sources of power to ensure we do not have a recurrence.”

Also speaking on the matter, Olubunmi Kuku, the substantive managing director of FAAN, expressed regret over the blackout.

“We regret the power outage that occured at the Murtala Mohammed International Airport, Lagos, on February 2, 2024,” she said.

The FAAN boss said the agency had “an unexpected hiccup when we tried to switch to our backup power supply & automatic switchover had a little trouble”.