In line with the New airports’ terminals and the beauty of continuum in governance popular saying that government is continuum, the present administration of President Muhammadu Buhari had within the last three and half years been commissioning one projects or the other it met on ground uncompleted but got them completed on account of their importance to the growth and development of the country .
The beauty of it is that such projects well envisioned by previous administrations particularly the immediate past government headed by Goodluck Jonathan are not in any way allowed to be abandoned projects to the detriment of Nigerians and Nigeria as it is to the credit of that government and the present one , that the revived railway lines across the country are getting more and more of attention and required expansion alongside Airports’ terminals across the country .
Specifically projects in this category are Abuja-Kaduna Railway lines envisioned and started by the immediate past government and completed by the present administration for the good of the country and also the Abuja light rail project which was even envisioned by the Obasanjo administration and started by the late Umaru Musa Yar’Adua led government , fastracked in implementation by the Jonathan administration and completed by the present government led by President Muhammadu Buhari in addressing the problem of infrastructural deficits the country has been facing .
The most recent of such develoment- driven continua in gpvernance as far as projects conceptualization , implementation and completion are concerned , was the New International Terminal commissioned at the Nnamdi Azikwe International Airport Abuja last Thursday, December 20, 2018, by President Muhammadu Buhari.
Unknown to many people, the project was the brainchild of former Minister of Aviation and Senator currently representing Anambra North Senatorial district in the Senate, Stella Oduah in her capacity as the Hon Minister of Aviation under the Jonathan led administration .
As an insider in the Aviation sector then, one can without any fear of contradiction say that Stella Oduah as Minister then, had sleepless nights in coming up with conceptualization of master plan to that effect not for the Nnamdi Azikwe international Airport alone but several other ones in the country .
Her efforts in this direction , paid off in 2012 when she obtained a concessionary loan from China Nexim Bank for the construction of five new international airport terminal buildings in Lagos, Kano, Abuja, Port Harcourt and Enugu two of which have completed now and commissioned i .e Port Harcourt and Abuja Airports .
The N106 billion approval by the Federal Government in 2012 also involved the construction of six other airports for perishable cargoes in Lagos, Abuja, Port Harcourt, Enugu, Kano and Asaba, bringing the total number of airports to 11.
Masterplan for transformation of the nation’s aviation sector then, also led to the reconstruction of 11 airports in the country namely: Murtala Muhammed International Airport and the General Aviation Terminal (GAT), Lagos; the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja; Port Harcourt International Airport, Omagwa; the Akanu Ibiam International Airport, Enugu; and the Malam Aminu Kano International Airport, Kano.
Others are Margaret Ekpo International Airport, Calabar; Yakubu Gowon Airport, Jos; the airports in Yola, Kaduna and Sam Mbakwe Airport, Owerri.
Little wonder that in her remarks last week on the commissioning of the projects she envisioned and put into implementation by the immediate past government, Oduah said :” On assumption of office as Aviation Minister , in 2011, I met a terribly decayed and a huge gap in the industry which led to drawing of a master plan that will serve as road map for required turn around projects .
“This master plan guided us on the A-Z of rehabilitating the aviation sector and we did our best with the resources that we had.
“I believe that today, if we still maintain that master plan, knowing that aviation is the catalyst for economic growth of any nation, the goals will still be accomplished.
“We started by looking at the impediments, one of which was the airspace – how to make it safe that it will be commercially viable.
“The same way for the terminals, where you board and where you sit; as much as we wanted it to be safe, we also wanted it to be comfortable.”
” It is a thing of joy to me these days to see ideas conceptualized by us for the betterment of Nigerians and Nigeria , project implementation started by us being completed .
” Meaning that as much as some are hell bent in painting us black light , development- driven projects initiated and started by us , are there to speak for us “.
As earlier said , the beauty of continuation cum completion of projects inherited by the Buhari administration is that Nigeria and Nigerians , they are meant to serve , end up benefiting from them .
Big kudos therefore to the government that started the projects and the one completing them . Remarkable development that must be emulated at the state level in addressing the problems of abandoned projects littering their landscapes.
Omowale is a public affairs commentator and development strategist.
