Huge economic waste!

 

• How states abandoned N542bn airport projects

 

Bayelsa State, with over N60 billion investment on its airport, is yet to get approval to put it to use just as eight other states spent huge sums of money only to abandon their airport projects, WOLE SHADARE reports

It is normal for state governors to dream big, achieve high level of independence for their states and take decisions that will boost tourism generally.

This perhaps could have informed why some states embarked on airport projects few years back only to abandon the projects despite billions of naira already sunk into work.

Those that struggled to successfully complete theirs’ have discovered that the project is a huge waste and a drain on the lean purses as many of the aerodromes are not viable.

A source told our correspondent that there was no point building facilities that do not have direct impact on the people.

Presently, FAAN manages 22 airports nationwide of which only four – Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos; Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja; Port Harcourt International Airport and Mallam Aminu Kano International Airport (MAKIA) – are said to be commercially viable.

The abandonment of these projects was caused by first, change in administration from one party to the other and from one person to the other within the same political party who probably does not believe in the project.

Another reason adduced for seeming abandonment is paucity of funds at a period many of the state governments find it extremely difficult to pay salaries of workers and at a time the economic situation which affected all the three tiers of government –federal, states and local governments.

Most of them have backlog of unpaid salaries and can neither embark on any capital project nor continue with the existing ones.

Lagos, Bayelsa, Ekiti, Abia, Osun, Ogun, Nassarawa, Zamfara, Kogi and Yobe had started ambitious projects of building aerodromes in their states for ease of transportation and bringing economic development to their areas.

 

The national leader of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Asiwaju Tinubu, advised the Ekiti State Governor to shelve the idea, saying that there is no need for an airport in Ado-Ekiti, the capital of Ekiti State.

Tinubu stated this at the seventh convocation ceremony of Afe Babalola University, Ado-Ekiti (ABUA).

Tinubu told the event host, Chief Afe Babalola, Ekiti State governor, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, and other dignitaries that the State does not need an airport.

There have been ongoing plan to build an airport in Ado-Ekiti a plan that the state has been working on for years leading to the inauguration of an eight-man committee to oversee its construction.

The past administration failed to bring the project to fruition and Governor Fayemi has sought to continue the push.

Chief Afe Babalola is said to be the one pushing for the project as he allegedly feels a need for the airport because of his university.

But speaking at the convocation ceremony, Tinubu told the audience that there was clearly no need for an airport in Ado-Ekiti.

The former Lagos Governor added that building one in the city would amount to a waste of the state’s scarce resources.

Tinubu pointed out that the functional airport in Akure, the capital of Ondo State would fulfill the air transport needs of residents of Ekiti State, as well as visitors to the state.

According to Tinubu, what the Ekiti State should do is to push for the fixing of the Akure-Ado-Ekiti Road because an airport in Akure will effectively serve both states.

Recently, the Federal Government approved the request for the construction of a new International Airport in Ebonyi State. This followed a request for the approval of the airport by the state government.

Minister for Aviation, Hadi Sirika, conveyed the approval in a letter to Governor David Umahi.

Zamfara State Governor, Bello Matawalle, had in August said that construction work on the Gusau Airport project would commence this month.

He said that the airport project was one of the several projects to be executed under the Public-Private Partnership (PPP), arrangement for which $1 billion was approved by the Afrexim Bank.

A visit to the locations of many of the proposed airports shows that there is nothing to suggest that work had commenced on the field while others have what appeared to be abandoned especially those in Lagos, Abia, Gusau, Osun, Ekiti, Ogun and Kogi.

Our correspondent who visited the site observed that farmers have cleared a large portion of the land, suggesting that rather than planes landing there, crops would be grown on the field in this year’s cropping season.

Some of the sites for these projects have been overtaken by weeds, signifying that after the ground-breaking ceremonies, there is nothing on ground to show that work would progress. In others, there is just an erection of what promises to be the control tower.

Investigation by Woleshadarenews revealed that former Zamfara Governor Shinkafi had awarded the cargo airport contract at the cost of about N9bn in 2009.

They had reasoned that the projects are located for reasons beyond economic factors, stressing that the localization of airports should be seen from other social factors other than from ‘‘balance sheet.”

Similarly, the completion of Damaturu Cargo International Airport project in Yobe State, promised by Governor Ibrahim Gaidam, is yet to see the light of day. The project, conceived and awarded at the cost of N11, 327,120,487.24 by the State Executive Council on September 13, 2017, was to be completed.

In Nasarawa State, the Lafia Cargo Airport project was initiated by Governor Umaru Tanko Almakura. It is situated in his ancestral hometown, Kwandere, about 8 kilometers from Lafia town, on a flat land. The project lies fallow.

The proposed cost of the project was put at N18, 600,205,729.34. Almakura had insisted that the N18.6 billion gigantic cargo airport project was neither a luxury nor a waste of resources. He maintained that the whole idea was borne out of the desire of the state to meet up with other states of the federation through development.

In Lagos, after a decade, the $500million (N175B) Lekki International Airport project of the state government is yet to get investors as there is uncertainty surrounding it.

Not much was done on the project by former Governor Akinwunmi Ambode. The project, which was a brainchild of the past administration of Babatunde Fashola, was designed as a public-private partnership (PPP) between the state government and a would-be investor.

Former Governor of Ekiti State, Mr. Ayodele Fayose, had in 2015 vowed to build a ‘world-class airport for the people of Ekiti.”

Four hundred thousand hectares of land spanning Ado-Ijan-Igbemo and Afao Ekiti were cleared for the project that was expected to gulp N20B.

In a bid to re-establish Abia heritage as a commercial hub of the South East, the state government in 2015 disclosed plans to commence operations in Aba dry port and the development of an airport. It is unclear how much the government planned to commit to the project. Sources said the cost could be as high as N40b.

As at 2015, the government of Osun State announced that it would expend the sum of N11bn on the airport project, but by 2017, the figure had increased astronautically to N40bn as a result of expansion and other modern facilities that were included by the contractor and approved by the State Government.

The airport was planned to be built on 839 hectares of land. But for close to ten years, the project seemed to be a huge dream.

The Ogun State Government had in 2007 signed a contract with Dar-Al Hadassah of Dubai, United Arab, Emirates, for the construction of its planned Agro Cargo Airport. Construction work started last year on a federal airport project at Wasinmi, near Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital.

About sixteen villages were cleared for the airport project, whose construction is being handled by a German construction firm, PW construction.

The cost for the Ogun State cargo airport is unknown but not a few believe that it would be approximately between N30bn and N40bn.

Of the seven states listed, Bayelsa was the only state that completed its own aerodrome. The State Government in February 2019 opened it’s over N60bn international airport.

The airport, known as Bayelsa International Airport, was opened with an inaugural flight by the Governor, Seriake Dickson, from Abuja.

The airport is yet to be put to use months after it was commissioned. Stakeholders said it would amount to a huge waste if it is not put to good use.

Dickson said the airport was built to improve the economy of the state, and would soon be fully inaugurated for both local and international flights.

The governor said the state government handled the entire project without input from the Federal Government or the Niger Delta Development Commission.

According to him, the project was handled by Dantata and Sawoe at the cost of about N60bn, adding that by the time compensation were paid to landowners in the five communities who provided space for the airport, the total cost would be close to N65bn.

Dickson said the report that the state government spent between N120bn and N150bn on the project was not true. He stated that the airport would be able to handle flights by big aircraft such as the Boeing 777.

Inadequate perimeter fencing and attendant safety concerns were blamed for the current restrictions of commercial flight operations into the Bayelsa airport.

The Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) said the N60 billion worth of facility would continue to remain closed until the state government complies with standard rules on security and safety.

The International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) regulations mandate standard airports to have both perimeter and security fences.

ICAO annex 14 sees to perimeter fence, while annex 17 has provisions for a security fence. The Bayelsa State government opened the new airport in February 2019 with the hope of attracting both regional and international flights. But since the commemoration, the facility has remained closed to commercial operations.

The acting Director-General of the NCAA, Capt. Abdullahi Sidi, recently confirmed that the airport falls below the security and safety standard, and explains why the airport was denied certification. Sidi said once the state government erects the perimeter fence, the NCAA would not hesitate to issue it certificate for commencement of operations.

He said: “Perimeter fencing is number one requirement for any airport, and that is safety issue. Someone said the government has done about 60 percent of the perimeter fencing and said the other side of the airport is creek, but I said that is not acceptable to the aviation industry.

“That perimeter fencing is the only thing remaining for Bayelsa Airport. There is no politics about it. That is the requirement. And anything security is taken seriously. It is a security issue. If we need to close an airport because of security issue, we will close it until they comply,” Sidi said.

Aviation security consultant, Group Captain John Ojikutu (Rtd) said, “Only very few airports are viable in Nigeria and what do we do about the ones that are unviable?”

Ojikutu said it would not be economical to have another airport in the South-West as Akure and Ibadan airports have been ‘‘dormant” for a long time.

He insisted that it was a wrong priority for any state in the South West, except Lagos to plan any airport project.

“We have about 25 airports in the country; seven of them are owned by state governments. But these airports cannot boast of more than 300,000 passengers each year,” Ojikutu added.

Google+