P’Harcourt terminal: Risen from the ashes

The Port-Harcourt airport, which had always been adjudged as worst in the world, has suddenly shed the toga, writes WOLE SHADARE

Worst airport toga

The messy state of the Port-Harcourt airport in Rivers State was once described as a shameful portrait of Nigerian aviation sector.

That situation lingered for many years until the Federal Government came to the rescue to change all the narratives and helped to show that with determination, nothing is impossible.

Port-Harcourt airport was travellers’ nightmare. It ranked amongst the worst in the world and was a bad advertisement for the country.

Successive governments paid lip service to developing aviation infrastructure in the country despite the acclaimed huge amount of money reportedly wasted on airports remodelling.

The sorry state of these facilities, including that of Port-Harcourt, caused a survey by SleepingInAirports, an internationally-respected travel website, in conjunction with Cable News Network (CNN), to rate the Port-Harcourt airport as the worst in the world in 2015.

What good airports bring

Airports are more than just vital parts of the global transport system, linking communities and businesses with the world – they are important employers and catalysts to skills development in their own right.

To many discerning minds and for those who take the tortuous road of travelling by air to most cities in Nigeria, it only goes to confirm the obvious that Nigerian airports are in decrepit shape.

It also brought to the fore over N500 billion allegedly spent on airports remodelling. Not a few believe that the project was a scam on many tax payers.

Outlived lifespan

It needs to be put in perspective. The airport remodelling embarked upon by the Federal Government six years ago was quite laudable.

Many of the aerodromes needed facelift or outright overhauling considering the fact that many of the international terminals were built over 30 years ago and have outlived their lifespan.

But what is unforgiveable is the fact that Nigerians are yet to see the benefit of such investment if our airports were still rated among the worst in the world.

A visit to many of the airports leaves one in utter dismay of what such huge amount of fund was done with the type of shoddy, amateurish work that was carried out.

Fourth busiest

The Port-Harcourt International Airport is ranked fourth busiest airport in Nigeria behind Lagos, Abuja and Kano. Not only is the airport porous, passenger facilitation was done inside canopies. One could be forgiven for saying that the terminal under construction appeared abandoned until government decided to speed up work on it.

Users of the terminal have had to complain about unpleasant and unhelpful staff, alleged corruption, lack of seating facilities, non-functional air-conditioning units and the fact that the arrival hall was inside a tent.

Great change

However, all that changed last week. After four years of spadework, President Muhammadu Buhari inaugurated the new international terminal in Omagwa, Rivers State.

The terminal was built by the Chinese Civil Engineering Construction Company as part of the $500 million concessional loan from the Export – Import Bank of China.

President’s remark

Buhari said the Port Harcourt International Airport terminal would play a significant role in promoting economic prosperity of Rivers State.

He said the new terminal would increase passenger growth as well as facilitate the movement of cargo, adding that the facility would bring the airport to international standard to create economic growth for Rivers State as well as the country.

He said the concession of four international airport terminals in Lagos, Abuja , Kano and Port Harcourt would improve infrastructure in Nigeria, stressing that the construction of new terminals will be linked to the Warri rail line.

Buhari said government was making deliberate efforts to increase handling capacities and infrastructure of the nation’s transport sector, which was not taken care of since the 70s and 80s when they were built.

In his remarks, at the inauguration, Minister of State, Aviation, Hadi Sirika, said the project commenced in 2014 and was inherited from the previous administration at 30 per cent completion in 2015.

In Nigeria, majority of airport infrastructure are government-owned. This administration has continued to promote infrastructural development, facility renewal and implementation of policies aimed at facilitating the growth and sustainability of the sector.

A report by the International Air Transport Association asserts that the economic benefits of air transport include employment generation, wealth creation, revenue generation and service provision to the tourism industry.

Airport is an important part of regional economic infrastructure, which contributes significantly to economic growth and development.

In addition, the growth of air service access can increase the growth potential of a region by attracting investment and promoting internal and external trade.

Expert’s view

A former Assistant Secretary General of Airline Operators of Nigeria (AON), Mohammed Tukur, said improvement in the air transport infrastructure has a key role to play in development of tropical regions of Nigeria.

“Air travel is the most popular mode of travel in modern society today. Air transportation has made long distance travel a possibility and near distance in a very short period of time, resulting in a market that has grown significantly. The aviation sector plays an important role in national economy by providing jobs and also contributing to the state coffer,” he noted.

The main issue that the sector needs to address is infrastructure. The aviation industry has grown over the years in Nigeria but most of the airlines have died while infrastructure has also remained stagnant.

It is just recently that the Nigerian government started looking at airport building renovation, but they are yet to look at the airside, which has to do with tarmac expansion, finger expansion, taxiway expansion, runways and all the likes.

The country has also not looked at infrastructure such as landing aids and landing at night. These will increase the utilisation of the airports that will give the airlines profitability as they will be operating at different number of hours.

Air navigation service should be commercialised. The regulators should regulate in such a way that they don’t choke the airlines.

Last line

The completion of the Port-Harcourt international airport is not yet Uhuru for decaying infrastructure in aviation, but many are of the opinion that it is a right step in the right direction in arresting decrepit airport facilities.

IATA had equally decried the appalling state of facilities at the nation’s aerodromes, noting that Nigeria would need over $30 billion to tackle the malaise.