…demands accelerated repairs
A pan-Igbo socio-cultural group of professionals based in diaspora identified as Igbo Ekunie Initiatives (IEI), has expressed dissatisfaction over the continuous delay in the resumption of international flight operations at the Akanu Ibiam International Airport, Enugu.
The pan-Igbo group also faulted the inability of the federal government and aviation authorities to abide by the May 3, 2021 advertised commencement date for resumed operation in the airport.
It demanded that the repairs delaying the resumption of international flights operations at and airport be accelerated.
The group in a statement on Saturday, presented by its President, Chief Chigbo Uzokwelu and Secretary, Engineer John Asiegbu, recalled with dismay that the Federal Aviation Authority closed the Airport for runway repairs since August 2019, with the projected completion time of December 2019, which unfortunately was postponed to April 2020.
It noted that the Airport was finally reopened for local flights only in August 2020, while the resumption of international flight operations was slated for commencement on the 3rd of May 2021.
“We note with astute displeasure that the advertised reopening date of 3rd of May has now come and gone and the airport remains closed for business without any credible justifications for the prevailing inefficiency.
“To our chagrin, no reasons have so far been proffered for this monumental failure of governance, and to our consternation, the authorities concerned have not till date bothered to provide any new reopening date. Is it not strange that similar repairs carried out on Abuja International Airport only took six weeks to be completed and the Airport was promptly reopened as scheduled?
“We should all recall that Aminu Kano Airport Kano was reopened exactly on the promised date to ostensibly to cater for Hajj passengers but a commensurate consideration was not accorded to Enugu airport. Please are some people more Nigerians than others?
“Igbo Ekunie is consequently compelled to adopt the notion that the unnecessary neglect and abandonment of Enugu International Airport may very well be a ploy by the Federal government of Nigeria to punish Igbo people who heavily rely on this route for regional sustenance and we must also bear in mind that the Enugu airport is a critical national economic infrastructure that contributes to the overall development of southern Nigeria and indeed the entire country.
“We record with astonishing disbelief the attitude of Igbo politicians in Abuja who paraded themselves at Enugu to an orchestral reopening ceremony of uncompleted non-functional Airport. Igbo Ekunie hereby calls on the governor of Enugu state Chief Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, former Deputy Senate President Chief Ike Ekweremadu, the House Committee Chairman on Aviation, Hon Nnolim Nnaji and all the other high ranking public officials from Igbo land to interface with the Federal government with a view to reversing the fiscal policies of the government that gravely affect the wellbeing of Igbos and the entire South East.
“We maintain that it has been a deliberate policy of the government to undermine the cargo section of Enugu airport
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