Before
2007, there appeared to be a deliberate attempt to prevent the people
of the Southeast a direct access to the outside world. This could be
attributed to the Nigeria-Biafra civil war. Thus, the absence of a
seaport or an international airport in the zone was seen as a means of
keeping an eagle’s eye on the region.
There was also what some
interpreted as politics of economic rivalry as the existence of a
functional airport or seaport in the region would have far-reaching
implications for the economy of the Southwest, particularly Lagos State,
as the Igbo are predominantly traders and importers. It is estimated
that about 75 per cent of cargo containers that arrive at the Lagos Port
and 55 per cent containers that arrive at the Onne Port end up in the
Southeast.
Although an international airport has always been one
of the major demands on every government right from the campaigns
period, but successive governments had kept making promises, and all
efforts at establishing an international airport in the zone were
politicised. It took the election of the late President Musa Yar’Adua
and the official visit to him in July 2007 by the Southeast Senate
Caucus led by former Deputy Senate President, Chief Ike Ekweremadu to
secure the approval of an international airport for the region.
Yar’Adua
made good his promise during the Federal Executive Council (FEC)
meeting of November 13, 2007 when the decision was formalised and
announced at the end of the FEC meeting by the then Minister of
Transportation, Mrs Diezani Alison-Madueke.
There was, however, no
funds to start work, hence the decision of the Enugu Caucus of the
National Assembly to pool N2 billion into the 2008 Budget for the
project. But the project still did not take off.
In a reminder
letter to President Yar’Adua dated March 20, 2009, Senator Ekweremadu
lamented: “Your Excellency may wish to recall that sometime in July
2007, I led a delegation of Southeast Senators to discuss with you,
among other things, the upgrading of Enugu Airport to an international
status. You may recall also that you expressed surprise that there is no
International Airport in the whole of Southeast and graciously directed
the then Minister of Transport, Mrs Dizeani Madueke.
“However,
nearly two years after, no step has been taken to provide facilities
that will enable international flights to land and take off at the
airport.
“In 2008, National Assembly members from Enugu State
sacrificed various sums due to their constituencies for projects in an
effort to appropriate sufficient fund in the Federal budget for the
upgrading of facilities at the Enugu Airport. Unfortunately, that
appropriated fund was not implemented and the monies were returned to
the Federal Government.
“Your Excellency may wish to note that
this unfortunate circumstance was in spite of the fact that all due
process procurement activities had been completed with a due process
certificate issued on December 1, 2008. I attach herewith the said due
process certificate for your ease of reference.
“In the 2009
Federal budget, the Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) made a
provision of N1billion for the upgrading of facilities at the airport.
Furthermore, the National Assembly members from Enugu State appropriated
the sum of N2 billion due to them for their constituency projects into
the said budget for upgrading of the Enugu Airport.
“But in spite
of your directive for the upgrading and the various budgetary
provisions made for that purpose, no action has been taken by the
Ministry of Aviation to give effect to Your Excellency’s directive.
“I
am, therefore, appealing to Your Excellency to kindly direct the
Minister of Aviation to take appropriate action to upgrade the
facilities in Enugu International Airport. As stated earlier,
sufficient budgetary provisions have been made for this exercise in the
2009 Federal Budget”.
Also governors of the Southeast met with
Yar’Adua on Wednesday, June 3, 2009 to lend support to the efforts of
the Southeast NASS Caucus. The delegation comprised Anambra’s Peter Obi,
Abia’s Theodore Orji, Ebonyi’s Martin Elechi, Enugu’s Sullivan Chime;
and Imo’s Ikedi Ohakim.
The contract for the project was
eventually awarded to the tune of N4.13 billion in 2009. But it appeared
the then Minister of Aviation under Yar’Adua, Babatunde Omotoba, was
working at variance with the administration.
During the flag-off
of the project at Enugu Airport, Omotoba said: “I cannot confirm that
Enugu Airport has become an international airport. We have four
international airports, Lagos, Abuja, Kano and Port Harcourt, but we
have other airports that have started showing signs of strong traffic.
That is Calabar, Enugu, Kaduna and Benin, and government is determined
to ensure that available systems in the airports meet up with relevant
standards.”
He added that the contract was primarily to
rehabilitate and upgrade facilities in the airport to meet aviation
safety standard, as well as to make provision for heavier aircraft. This
did not go down well with the region.
Sensing possible
sabotage, the Southeast NASS members spearheaded by Ekweremadu lobbied
and ensured that Mrs Fidelia Njeze was made Aviation Minister during the
cabinet reshuffle by Jonathan after Yar’Adua’s demise in 2010.
Working
in concert with the NASS agenda also, Mrs Njeze pushed for the
gazetting of the airport as an international facility vide FEC approval
at its October 19, 2010 meeting.
In addition to gazetting the
airport, the Jonathan administration and Stella Oduah as minister of
aviation awarded a reviewed contract to bring the total cost to about
N10.03 billion. With considerable work done after the closure, the
airport was reopened and received the first international commercial
flight (Ethiopia Airline) on August 24, 2013.
There have,
however, been complaints over the non-completion of work and the quality
of work already done. Of greatest worry was the runway and absence of
night landing equipment due to poor funding of the project. This
prevented many international airlines from plying the lucrative route.
Experts
had particularly faulted the engineering design of the runway, which
makes them easily susceptible to flooding, thus worsening the wear and
tear.
They argued that asphalt does not go hand-in-hand with
water. These discouraged international airliners, the Ethiopian Airline,
from flying the airport
The Muhammadu Buhari administration
first indicated plans to close the airport in May 2019. Minister of
State Aviation, Hadi Sirika, listed some of the reasons for the planned
shutdown of the airport to include the bad condition of the runway, the
landing aids, a market, a broadcasting station mast, free trade zone,
among others.
Sirika said that the airport would be closed down
until the state government removed all the encumbrances posing threat to
safe flight operations at the airport.
This too was widely
received in the Southeast as a strategy by the Federal Government to
return the region to the era it did not enjoy a direct access to the
rest of the world. But the Enugu State government acted swiftly to
remove the observed encumbrances.
Nevertheless, the airport was
finally shut in August this year. The authorities said that even Air
Peace, which was about the only airliner flying the aviation facility,
had given up due to the high risk involved.
Considering the
importance of the airport to the people of the Southeast, especially the
approaching Yuletide, the governors of the Southeast invited the
Minister of Aviation to a meeting in Enugu where it was agreed that all
hands would be on deck to ensure the airport was reopened in December.
A
vexed issue in the meeting with the minister was the issue of the
contractor to handle the project. While the Federal Government was
rooting for a certain contractor, the governors wanted Julius Berger
Plc.
However, two months after the closure of the airport, work
is yet to commence on the project, thus prompting a motion moved by the
Deputy Minority Leader of the House of Representatives, Hon. Toby
Okechukwu, on behalf of over 30 other lawmakers, mainly from the
Southeast, calling for President Buhari’s special intervention on the
airport.
A delegation of Southeast governors and leaders also
visited Aso Rock where the President told the delegation that he had
already approved the N10 billion ahead of their coming. This, many said,
showed that President Buhari was very concerned and committed to
bringing Southeast’s elusive quest for a truly international airport to a
happy end.
With the release of N10 billion, the Minister of
Aviation, Senator Hadi Sirika, has promised to temporarily relocate his
office to the Akanu Ibiam International Airport to directly supervise
the rehabilitation of the airport by April 2020 to become the best in
the country.
As the Southeast awaits with bated breathe, many
believe that there is finally not only a light at the end of the tunnel,
but indeed a consummation of all the efforts that dated back to 2007,
which might open a new vista in APC and President Buhari’s perception in
the Southeast. However, only April will tell.
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