In recent times, airport projects have become a major aspect of government developmental plans. So far, more than five state governments have unveiled their plans to build airports. Most recent is that of the Benue State Government which got approval from the Federal Government last week.
In October 2022, the Lagos State Government had also obtained the Federal Government’s approval to build a passenger and cargo airport in the north-east of the city close to a major oil refinery and a new deep sea port.
The Federal Government recently granted approval to the Benue for the construction of a civil aviation airport in Makurdi, the state capital.
The Commissioner for Information in Benue, Mr Mike Inalegwu, disclosed the approval recently, informing that the state was among those that secured licences from the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authorities (NCAA) for the construction of Civil Aviation Airports in their respective territories.
Inalegwu said the construction of the new airport would commence in the second week of April, 2023 with a foundation laying ceremony for the airport at Kura village, along Naka road, about 12 kilometres away from the city centre.
Similarly, other states, including Ekiti, Bayelsa, Abia, Osun and Ogun are at various stages in their plans to build an airport.
By the time the airports are completed, they would have spent close to N150 billion, which may not be different from the ones in Delta, Akwa Ibom and Imo states, which are presently not viable. Reports have shown that the airports in these areas have not significantly improved the economies of the states because of low traffic level.
Consequently, many of the state-owned airports have become liabilities to the aviation agencies, particularly the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) even when they do not have direct impact on the people. Additionally, the cost of setting up an airport is gigantic. For instance the first phase of the Lagos airport project is projected to cost about $900 million.
Aviation stakeholders have, however, expressed fears over the proliferation of airports being driven by the states. They have, therefore, called on state governments to carry out project feasibility studies to determine the viability of airports in their states before venturing into such.
These experts are of the view that government should priortise the need of the people ranging from the basics of life like food, shelter, heath, education and the others, emphasising that airport construction goes beyond acquiring hectares of land without perimeter fencing , compromising the safety of operations and construction of substandard runways that will be washed away during one or two raining seasons
Commenting on the proliferation of airports across the country, President/CEO, Sabre Network Africa, Dr Gbenga Olowo, queried the rush for the establishment of more airports by state governments, claiming that most of the existing aerodromes are not commercially viable.
Rather, Olowo advised that efforts should be geared towards developing hubs at the major airports in the country, especially at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Lagos, with many terminals in order to attract more traffic and airlines.
Speaking with THEWILL, Olowo observed that most of the airports, apart from the ones in Lagos, Abuja and Port Harcourt, are not commercially viable.
According to him, facilities that would make the existing airports a hub are still lacking in most of the country’s airports. He mentioned the absence of a concourse light train network to connect the domestic and international terminals and vice versa both in Lagos, Abuja, Port Harcourt and Kano.
“Installing modern technology facilities like self-checking service kiosks and the likes are also lacking. There exist too many toll-gate check-points rather than the many agencies to share data and file a single watch-list with security. This is a major disincentive for hub development. Passenger facilitation is made more cumbersome rather than the global effort at making it seamless”.
For cargo airports, Olowo, who is the current president of Aviation Safety Round Table Initiative (ART), lamented that the intra- and inter-state road linkages to the airports are in deplorable states and wondered how such airports would be useful to farmers and other users to deliver their products.
He said that airports are not only expensive to build because of the many facility linkages but also expensive to maintain.
Olowo submitted that there must be a short and long term enforceable plan by successive governments before embarking on airport development if the government were to be a continuum.
“One governor quitting and another abandoning the project, such as revealed during the launch of the Ogun State Agro Airport runway is lamentable”, he said:
“For Lagos Airport, for instance, to become a hub, first-class and world-class airport transfer connection facility is necessary. Concourse light trains should be built to connect the terminals rather than allowing Transit and or Transfer passengers to check out of the customs, burst into the precarious mammoth crowed in rain and shine with their baggage in order to pick a taxi to the next connecting terminal.
“This is very absurd and a shame at MMA in the 45 years of its existence since 1978. Transit/Transfer passengers dread Lagos Airport especially in the evenings. Regarding cargo airports, the roads to take the products to the airports are either not available or in bad shape with high propensity for trucks to tumble and perishable goods destroyed. Explosive goods will also explode. Day-old chicken and eggs were massively destroyed.
“The states should put their heads together for the establishment of safe, functional and durable interstate road linkages first rather than conceiving the idea of a new agro Aerodrome. The airports in the South-West are still operating below capacity.
“The geographical neighbouring states should co-operate on road and rail linkages and upgrade the airport to a world class standard for the service of Ogun, Oyo, Ondo, Ekiti, and others rather than individual state effort at establishing own airport. It is bad economics if airports are to deliver economic of scale.
“Airports maintainance is not cheap and it must be carried out routinely. All we need is to make an effort at turning the existing ones (after proper enhancement) into hubs. There must be deliberate effort to develop hubs and not by building non- functional airport silos all over the states over-stretching the already stressed treasury”, Dr Olowo advised.
On the plan by the Abia and Edo states to build additional airports, Olowo described it as good politics but bad economics. What is the status of once glorious Benin airport? Why not revisit the old ruins?
He wondered if the state governments had short term and long term development plans for their areas, stressing that each state should necessarily have 5-10 year development plan for their states, which must be strictly honored by subsequent leadership.
Also, aviation and security consultant, John Ojikutu, had earlier pointed out that the establishment of specialised airports was urgently needed in the country, adding that states could collaborate to establish airports based on their comparative advantages.
According to him, it will not be economical to have another airport in the South- West as Akure and Ibadan airports have been ‘‘dormant” for a long time.
Also reacting to the spate at which state governments are venturing into airport projects, secretary-general of Association of Nigerian Aviation Professionals (ANAP), Comrade Abdulrasaq Saidu, said the establishments of the so-called airports are politically motivated.
Comrade Saidu noted that there was no economic gain in sighting an airport in Benue when airports already existed in Jos and Abuja which share the same geographical location.
He recalled that at one time the Nigeria Airways was flying into Benue, instead of building an airport, they opted to use the Nigerian Air Force (NAF) airfield in the state.
Explaining further, the ANAP scribe said, “Those airports are politically motivated. They will forcefully build it to score a political point only to realise that it is not viable thereafter. When they notice that, they still use politics and hand it over to FAAN to manage. It is not viable economically because the passenger traffic in those areas is equally low”.
He advised state governments to priortise all their projects very well before embarking on execution.
Anthony Awunor, is a business correspondent who holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Linguistics (UNILAG). He is also an alumnus of the Nigerian College of Aviation Technology (NCAT), Zaria Kaduna State. He lives in Lagos.
