FG to complete all airport terminal projects – Oduah

The outgoing Minister of Aviation, Princess Stella Oduah, has assured that no airport project initiated during her tenure would be abandoned.

Speaking recently in Cross River and Adamawa states during the inspection of on-going modernization of terminals at the Margaret Ekpo International Airport, Calabar and Yola Airport, Oduah decried the abandoned project syndrome in the country and reiterated that “the leadership in the aviation sector is very committed to the full and timely completion of projects started in late 2011 under the Airport Remodelling Project initiative.”

‘’When we came on board in 2011 and drew up our Master Plan and implemented the roadmap which had as its core components, the Airport Remodelling Project, we assured that we will see every project to its logical conclusion and we are committed to that. Not only have we completed, commissioned and put to use a lot of the remodelled airports, work on the remaining ones is at 95 per cent completion. So under my watch, no project we have commenced will be abandoned’’, the Minister assured.

She said Yola Airport “is very important and critical to the successful implementation of the transformation programme in the aviation sector” adding that as one of the designated perishable cargo centres, its terminal would be completed in the second quarter of the year.

The then minister said when the airport becomes fully operational, its cargo facility “will not only create thousands of jobs for the people of the state, but more importantly, empower the rural farmers whose fresh produce will have access to both local and international markets.”

At the Margaret Ekpo International Airport, Calabar, Oduah said the size of the terminal was being expanded in anticipation of growth in passenger, cargo as well as tourist traffic.

She described Calabar as a “foremost tourism destination” that “needs an expansive airport terminal of global standards that will accommodate the expected increase in the number of tourists.”

“Some had huge structural defects that they had to start all over again. So, what you are seeing is a brand new airport. We did not just do rehabilitation; we restructured and reconstructed the terminal. For us to be able to do this in record time and with the resources available to us, I think we have done very well and again it is for the Nigerian people. They should have a comfortable place where they should travel from,” she said.