NSIB Finds Unfinished Structure Blocked Control Tower View at Benin Airport; Visibility Concerns Raised at Other Nigerian Airports

Nigeria's Safety Investigation Bureau (NSIB) released preliminary findings from its investigation into a runway excursion at Benin Airport, identifying an uncompleted building structure as obstructing the air traffic controller's line of sight toward the end of Runway 05, at the Runway 23 threshold. The incomplete structure was intended as a shelter for a localiser transmitter but blocked the controller's view of the clearway where the aircraft came to rest following the excursion.

Former Rector of the Nigerian College of Aviation Technology (NCAT), Capt. Sam Caulcrick, confirmed that regulations require control towers to have an unobstructed view of all runways, taxiways, and aircraft approach and departure paths. He said the situation would have been significantly worse had the building been completed.

Similar visibility issues have been identified at other Nigerian airports. At Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport in Abuja, the siting of a new terminal was reported to have obstructed part of the control tower's field of view. At Murtala Muhammed Airport in Lagos, structures including the Legend Hotel, Executive Jet facilities, and the General Aviation Terminal were said to have restricted portions of the tower's visibility. Surface Movement Radar has been deployed at both Abuja and Lagos airports to help controllers monitor areas not fully visible from the tower.

Aviation security expert Ojikutu questioned when the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) last audited Benin Airport, stating that no structure may legally be erected within an airport without NCAA approval. He alleged that successive administrations have sold portions of airport land to private individuals and noted that Murtala Muhammed Airport is surrounded by uncontrolled urban development and a complicated road network. He also referenced a letter from the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) to Nigeria's National Security Adviser concerning airport land encroachment, the resolution of which remains outstanding.

NSIB's findings have prompted questions about whether NCAA will respond to recommendations on the Benin tower's positioning, whether the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) will identify a new site for the NAMA tower at Benin, and whether audit records will be made public.

This case sits alongside a broader pattern of encroachment on airport land in Nigeria, where terminals, hotels, and private structures have been sited close enough to airfields to compromise the sightlines controllers depend on. A control tower's function rests on continuous, unobstructed visual coverage of runways, taxiways, and approach paths; when that coverage degrades, air traffic services lean on tools like Surface Movement Radar as a partial substitute, as has already happened at Abuja and Lagos.

Whether Benin Airport gets a similar mitigation, a relocated tower, or a cleared sightline depends on how NCAA and FAAN respond to NSIB's recommendations. The outstanding ICAO letter to Nigeria's National Security Adviser on land encroachment is one signal to watch, since its resolution would indicate whether oversight of airport perimeters is tightening. Publication of NCAA's audit history for Benin, if it happens, would settle how long the obstruction went unaddressed before this excursion brought it to light.