Onlytruth: @all the Yoruba wandering around this thread, please you should go and face your own region.
I wonder what you would lose if SE gets those airports. Oh I get it now, your Lagos may deflate! oops!
However, this is not what this thread is about.

BTW the statistic you brandish about is only part of why I want SE to have international airports and reverse emigration from our region. I know that your region has everything it needs. lol
So, face your front and don't let my brothers catch you here. Nuff said.

You give them the power onlytruth.
There are time you just let people run around sniffing their butt than address them.

Sometime I don't get some of una! When you are focusing on the development of your region, you discuss with your people, your elder, etc ,the rest are irrelevant. If they will hate, let them hate. If they want to destroy the discussion, you ignore them. Shikena! Is it everything una have to fight over about? Na wa oo!!!

Anyway I'll be waiting on the owerri's analysis.

One_Naira:

I agree with the Ontisha and Enugu, not so sure about Owerri. Ontisha needs a major turnover both political, infrastructural and economical but there is no denying that Ontisha also needs an international airport as well as a port during this time. I do believe that is self explanatory
Enugu is also self explanatory.

Owerri, I don't know, do you mind elaborating more on Owerri's need for an Airport?

Owerri is an emerging hospitality hub in Igboland. It can develop into a major tourist city if big players from abroad can access it.
Las vegas is in the middle of the desert but it is a tourist haven. Owerri can too.
Secondly, it is also close to Aba and can serve Aba needs. I am really putting our development into our own hands by calling for these airports.
The balkanization of Nigeria through state creation has rendered cities formerly close, almost inaccessible to each other. That is part of why Port harcourt has performed below par with reference to Aba for example. If there is no Rivers state for example, the PH airport would even serve as far as Onitsha. I hope you get my point now.

Onlytruth:

Owerri is an emerging hospitality hub in Igboland. It can develop into a major tourist city if big players from abroad can access it.
Las vegas is in the middle of the desert but it is a tourist haven. Owerri can too.
Secondly, it is also close to Aba and can serve Aba needs. I am really putting our development into our own hands by calling for these airports.
The balkanization of Nigeria through state creation has rendered cities formerly close, almost inaccessible to each other. That is part of why Port harcourt has performed below par with reference to Aba for example. If there is no Rivers state for example, the PH airport would even serve as far as Onitsha. I hope you get my point now.

No I'm not getting your point yet. Having an international airport does not guarantee Owerri turning into a tourist city without it having any of the necessary attraction for the tourist. Las vegas you used for example is known for it's casino and the place where anything goes thus the reason it is a tourist haven. I cannot think of anything in owerri that will attract tourist unless the governor or the community or even a one man's investment creates an attraction that is similar to las vegas or disney world. IMO, I feel Owerri has the capability of becoming a business city just like Ontisha, Enugu, PH, etc and from the bolded I nk there is where you are going therefore I'm starting to get you alittle bit but still not there. Anyway, I feel like you are putting your eggs in one basket rather than separating. IMO, The international airport should go to more needed states such as Ebonyi. I'll explain: Ebonyi is lacking very much, it does not have the potential to be anything therefore we disregard it alot but I believe with the international airport within their community, it would increase the amount of Igbo visiting their community thus increasing the investment within their community.

One_Naira:

No I'm not getting your point yet. Having an international airport does not guarantee Owerri turning into a tourist city without it having any of the necessary attraction for the tourist. Las vegas you used for example is known for it's casino and the place where anything goes thus the reason it is a tourist haven. I cannot think of anything in owerri that will attract tourist unless the governor or the community or even a one man's investment creates an attraction that is similar to las vegas or disney world. IMO, I feel Owerri has the capability of becoming a business city just like Ontisha, Enugu, PH, etc and from the bolded I nk there is where you are going therefore I'm starting to get you alittle bit but still not there. Anyway, I feel like you are putting your eggs in one basket rather than separating. IMO, The international airport should go to more needed states such as Ebonyi. I'll explain: Ebonyi is lacking very much, it does not have the potential to be anything therefore we disregard it alot but I believe with the international airport within their community, it would increase the amount of Igbo visiting their community thus increasing the investment within their community.

Honestly I think that we can use the diversity that Owerri as a tourist city (if envisioned that way by a governor)can bring to the mix. Owerri does not need to become another Onitsha, or PH. I really see that city as a relaxation and cool networking city. A Las Vegas style touch won't be bad at all too. It is still developing, and the new areas to the suburbs can take on this new role. Also like I stated earlier, it would serve Aba and other Imo/Abia cities. We can never really have enough of international access.
As for Ebonyi, I really believe that Enugu can serve it well. All we need is to fully dualize Enugu-Abakaliki road. Emene, the Enugu airport location is right on that road. Also, I don't think that this is about emotions. Abakaliki is not central and does not boast of the type of commerce that obtains in say Aba. The airports need to be self sustaining and economically viable on their own without government intervention or funding.

Its funny how only the people who are against an international airports in the SE are only yoruba folks. Lmaoo. talk of being intimidated. International airports in SE with definitely drag down traffic at lagos airport whose passengers are MORE igbo. The yorubas that travel only travel to uk. And one bigot even brought out a statistics claming the cave he calls SW (apart from Lagos) are economically viable than SE. What an irony. Another said ondo has more billionaires than SE, sorry Anambra? What a big Fo-ol! Is there anything like innosen motor factory in SW? Why is there not an Intl airport in a state that hosts it, a refinery and great industry/commerce. I want to give you yoruba folks an agenda to focus on... Start campaigning against Soludo as governor of Anambra State in 2014 because he is bringing an Intl airport to the state..... Cowardic disciples of awo

Onlytruth:

Owerri is an emerging hospitality hub in Igboland. It can develop into a major tourist city if big players from abroad can access it.
Las vegas is in the middle of the desert but it is a tourist haven. Owerri can too.
Secondly, it is also close to Aba and can serve Aba needs. I am really putting our development into our own hands by calling for these airports.
The balkanization of Nigeria through state creation has rendered cities formerly close, almost inaccessible to each other. That is part of why Port harcourt has performed below par with reference to Aba for example. If there is no Rivers state for example, the PH airport would even serve as far as Onitsha. I hope you get my point now.

Owerri can serve both Onitsha and Aba as it is mere 50 mins drive from both towns.

Seriously all of una dey make me laugh. The only feasible airport in Nigeria is Lagos and that is because it serves the entire country. Our international air traffic is still low compared with Europe and America.

GAR3TH: Why 3? Port harcourt and Enugu international are enough to serve the 15 million or so people living in the south east. Why not just upgrade those two airports instead of building new ones just a couple of miles away. You also have Calabar, Asaba and the airport in Imo, once again you can just upgrade those airports so they can have international flights.

I never said anything about building NEW international airports. All I said is that SE needs international airports. I then went ahead to qualify the one for Onitsha, saying that Asaba can be upgraded to play that role.
My concern with Asaba is that I cannot go to Delta state and start pressuring their governor to take up this campaign. I can only pressure my governor in Anambra state to some extent to see whether Delta can partner with Anambra to develop that airport into a world class international airport. It is just across the bridge from Onitsha, so it is just fine, if developed for that. If delta slacks even for a minute, we will keep campaigning for one at Onitsha.

Second enugu international airport has a yearly passenger traffic of 270,000* [all domestic]** people and port harcourt international has a yearly traffic of 850,000* people out of which only 13,000 were international flights according to FAAN. Compare that to Lagos which has a yearly traffic of 6,300,000 people.***

For starters, Enugu is NOT an international airport. I am still waiting for a proof of that. The only proof I have so far is that Jerry Rawlings couldn't fly in there straight from Ghana,. He had to stop at Lagos "for clearance" before taking off again to land at Enugu. To me, that tells me clearly that Enugu is not an international airport. So, we need one there.
Secondly, you cannot use current traffic to estimate likely future international traffic. That is even a laughable method. I would say that about 20 -40 percent of the Lagos traffic originate or terminate in SE. I am even being conservative with that figure. So, look at Enugu in the neighborhood of 1 - 2 million annually if it is upgraded into a FULL international airport.

You cant justify building 3 airports in an area were international flight demands are low. Why not build something that will actaully give you return on your investment such as road or a rail way. There is no reason to build 3 new airports when the current ones dont even receive that much traffic. Like someone else said all this seems to be chest beating just so you can say the south east has 3 airports. but are the airports viable? cant those billions being spent be put to good use in other sectors?

Again, you can't use current statistics showing LOCAL operations to estimate the likely traffic for Enugu.

* 2009 stats, airports were closed in 2010 and following years for renovation.

** No international carrier has flights from enugu international airport [lack of demand just like port harcourt?]

***2010 stats

There are no international flights coming into Enugu because Enugu is NOT an international airport.
Please don't compare Enugu with PH because Enugu is yet to enjoy international status. When it has become an international airport like PH, then we can check again.

Abagworo:


Owerri can serve both Onitsha and Aba as it is mere 50 mins drive from both towns.

Seriously all of una dey make me laugh. The only feasible airport in Nigeria is Lagos and that is because it serves the entire country. Our international air traffic is still low compared with Europe and America.

Let us leave the debate until we see the first INTERNATIONAL flight land at Owerri.
I know that some of you would try everything you can to convince us to accept the status quo. The irony is that you are the same people that would be going about saying that SE cities are villages. I wonder what you want. What is wrong with Onitsha and Owerri having international airports? One COUNTY (local government area here in the states) I know has up to FOUR airports. Why are you people determined to keep us backwards?

All I have to say is that Onitsha deserves a direct international airport because it is big enough (a city of over 1 million), and can pay for it if managed well. If Asaba plays that role, great too. Why drive 50 minutes when you can just drive 10 minutes across the bridge and get to the international gateway?

There's nothing wrong with multiple international airports in the South East, especially with a nation of 160 million people. Especially the South East, which has great industrial potential.
However, everything goes together. Airports must come with stable power supply, roads, transport infrastructure, amenities, decent housing, etc.
With the lopsided revenue sharing structure, and the constitutional disempowerment of states, I wonder how governors will ever get anything done. Not only in the South East, everywhere in the country. Fashola, Amaechi, and Chime seem to be the only governors doing a reasonable job so far. Akpabio also has good mentions, I hope they are true. Haven't been to Uyo in years.

I died from laughter!!!


No beef o!! Just curious. . . .

I think one international airport is ok for now. It's not always about the population, rather about the traffic of those airports and the money that will be needed to run them. So, one international airport wwith several other high-tech local airports in Owerri, Onitsha and Asaba is in order.

Hmmmmm

Why not 300 airports? arrant nonsense.

What's needed is not another airport, but a great rail network that can haul bigger payloads of goods and even pax between major economic hubs within the SE, and probably with other regions (SS, SW to the North). Along with the upgrade of existing airports within the region.

Onlytruth:

Let us leave the debate until we see the first INTERNATIONAL flight land at Owerri.
I know that some of you would try everything you can to convince us to accept the status quo. The irony is that you are the same people that would be going about saying that SE cities are villages. I wonder what you want. What is wrong with Onitsha and Owerri having international airports? One COUNTY (local government area here in the states) I know has up to FOUR airports. Why are you people determined to keep us backwards?

All I have to say is that Onitsha deserves a direct international airport because it is big enough (a city of over 1 million), and can pay for it if managed well. If Asaba plays that role, great too. Why drive 50 minutes when you can just drive 10 minutes across the bridge and get to the international gateway?

i


I think Owerri is entirely out of the equation, the level of airport there is quite okay going by the economic condition of the place. Upgrading their airport to any other level will amount to misappropriation.

Cities like Onitsha and Enugu are long over due for an international airports. Anambra particularly should not go into any form of discussion with any other state, be it neighboring state or otherwise since they have already been approved to build an international airport very close to the refinery site in Otuocha. The airport is 15min to Onitsha via GRA, 25 min to Awka and 40min to Nnewi. I think it is cool.

jason123: Onlytruth, you should not have asked for 3 airport, why not 20 airports?

What would three airports do that Asaba airport (at its full potential) cannot do?

You were the one that was talking about river-niger dredging. Now that that is done, what economic value has that added to onitsha? We keep wasting money on IRRELIVANT things in Nigeria.
Not to sound condescending, take a look at the size of the SE. Do you think building 3 airport within Niger state (Niger state alone is at least 2.5 times bigger than the entire SE) assuming the same population density; would make sense??

Do you think building an airport IN the SE is essential in jump starting economic activities there? What is wrong with Asaba airport? Moreover, has the so called "sea port" or "river-port" in Onitsha increase the economic activities in Onitsha and the SE?

And please, stop this 50% of airport user are igbo propaganda, abeg!


In my humble opinion, I think the SE should be looking at a rail way and a second Niger-bridge while collaborating with neigbouring states such as Rivers on access to the international market.

Plz i need you to answer me this questions plz. Where is the sea port and river port built in onitsha? Have you seen it personally or hear say? Where exactly is it located? Your statement shows that you have seen it or confirm the ports. Thank you

i think two airport will; be fine...........

Eko Ile: lmao.....what's in the water AGIPA people drink?


Y'all on crack I swear...


How many of these ladder on top roof airport and blackboard schedule you clowns go subject us to?

Believe me, you have never fly an air plane before. Even when i fly through this airport around may 2011, everything was done digitally. If you have not been to this airport, spare yourself from lies which may not fare well with you. Plz no offense taking but you got that wrong when u post this unconfirmed pictures of enugu airport may be trying to make it a laughing stock

3 international airports in the south east? . I think some igbo people love ego tripping, they just think of vanities to massage their ego. When igbo land has Huge infrastructural challenges of virtually no motorable roads, no power, no health facilities and gully erosion threatening to swallow the while east and someones priority is international airports. Mind you I am not saying the south east having one airport to serve the whole Region, but three is unrealistic. As igbo land has a relatively small land mass, with good roads, you can reach any part of igbo land from onitsha in less than 2 hrs.
Please tell me how many countries in the world has three international airports even within the industrialized countries. Even Abuja airport which is the international airport serving the capital and most northern states is grossly under utilized.

So please get your priority right. If you ask an average igbo market woman or even trader, international airport would be the least of his worries.

chino11: i


I think Owerri is entirely out of the equation, the level of airport there is quite okay going by the economic condition of the place. Upgrading their airport to any other level will amount to misappropriation.

Cities like Onitsha and Enugu are long over due for an international airports. Anambra particularly should not go into any form of discussion with any other state, be it neighboring state or otherwise since they have already been approved to build an international airport very close to the refinery site in Otuocha. The airport is 15min to Onitsha via GRA, 25 min to Awka and 40min to Nnewi. I think it is cool.

Abeg i need international airport close to my avenue

wirinet: 3 international airports in the south east? . I think some igbo people love ego tripping, they just think of vanities to massage their ego. When igbo land has Huge infrastructural challenges of virtually no motorable roads, no power, no health facilities and gully erosion threatening to swallow the while east and someones priority is international airports. Mind you I am not saying the south east having one airport to serve the whole Region, but three is unrealistic. As igbo land has a relatively small land mass, with good roads, you can reach any part of igbo land from onitsha in less than 2 hrs.
Please tell me how many countries in the world has three international airports even within the industrialized countries. Even Abuja airport which is the international airport serving the capital and most northern states is grossly under utilized.

So please get your priority right. If you ask an average igbo market woman or even trader, international airport would be the least of his worries.

you are a mugu! do you know how many igbo business men and women travel to china and japan on a weekly basis? you people talk too much think b4 u type...........

shymmex: What Eastern Nigeria needs includes the following:

- A thriving seaport in either Port Harcourt, Calabar, or Akwa Ibom.
- An inland water transport system across river Niger.
- An international airport.
- Railway transportation.
- Modernizing Onitsha and Aba to make them appealing to Nigerians and international investors.
- Finding a solution to erosion.
- An aggressive development of the dilapidated infrastructures and about 5million low cost houses, subsidized by the government.

Airport jamboree is unnecessary!

Supported 100%. Enugu airport should be Ok @ least for now when completed. Dias no need for 3 airports.

Infact I prefer seaport in Calabar,AK or Ph and inland water transport to 2 additional airports. Just as we're all saying dat Abuja has too much powers and should be reduced so am I saying that Lagos seaports have too much responsibilities. It should be reduced by dredging and developing other seaports.

If Calabar port is developed and big ships are allowed 2 berth,goods meant for enugu,ebonyi environs will be transported via Calabar-Abakaliki-Enugu road(Dualisation of dat road'll soon satrt and its a world bank funded project). Goods meant for Onitsha/Nnewi market will be transpd via inland water route-Onitsha port. Calabar is also quite close to Abia and Imo. Imagine what it'll do to d IGR of d Cross river,Enugu and Ebonyi. These states collect d least monetary Allocation from FG in d SS&SE zones.
BTW Liyel Imoke should discuss with SE govs and coonvince dem abt d Economic viability of such a partnership and present it 2 GEJ or they do it demselves.

My 2 kobo

ak47mann: you are a mugu! do you know how many igbo business men and women travel to china and japan on a weekly basis? you people talk too much think b4 u type...........

Why are you wasting your time over that maga. Onitsha and Nnewi has the bulk of big time business men and women who travel to all parts of the world on daily basis. My in-law is a good example of this; he is into electronics @ Electro-Mart Onitsha. He travels almost on weekly basis shipping stuffs throgh air and ship cargo.
Infact if there is any part of SE that needs international cargo airport it is Anambra and by extension Enugu state. Anambra Int'l cargo airport is needed urgently to serve the ever rising economic activities @ Onitsha and Nnewi.

I know for sure that Anambra int'l Passenger/cargo airport has been approved for Anambra state. With coming on stream of the refinery, am sure they will hasten the airport project.

http://www.aircargonews.net/News/Green-light-for-Nigeria-cargo-airport.aspx

ak47mann: you are a mugu! do you know how many igbo business men and women travel to china and japan on a weekly basis? you people talk too much think b4 u type...........

You are one funny dude. So you need 3 international airports only to service igbo importers going to china.
Since I do not know can you please tell me the number of igbo traders traveling daily from our existing international airports going to china or any other exporting countries? Infact how many flights take off from our international airports going to China on a daily basis? In fact how many igbo traders are directly involved with importation? Most igbo traders buy from very few bulk importers. And to make matters worse the bulk importers do not travel every time they buy goods from China, they just place orders and it is shipped to your port after establishing a good relationship with the suppliers. The goods are not going to be shipped through the international airport, it would need a sea port, so I thought a sea port would be more of a priority than an airport.

I just want to point some things out. I think that Enugu airport should be completed this year. It will serve east for now. Ppl are making comments without confirmation that enugu international airport has been built but low turn out like Gar3th made this comment (** No international carrier has
flights from enugu international
airport [lack of demand just like
port harcourt?]
). What was completed was the local wing of the airport which was modernized and run ways upgraded. The international wing is still under construction and infact, the whole airport was said to be closed for installation of run night landing on 18th march 2012.
punchng.com/news/faan-shuts-enugu-airport/
This is good for Enugu because before the end of this year, the airport might have been completed and lagos will be freed a bit because of congestion caused by alot of things not excluding airport which i think is one of the major ones.

Mr. Globe:
Its funny how only the people who are against an international airports in the SE are only yoruba folks. Lmaoo. talk of being intimidated. International airports in SE with definitely drag down traffic at lagos airport whose passengers are MORE igbo. The yorubas that travel only travel to uk. And one bigot even brought out a statistics claming the cave he calls SW (apart from Lagos) are economically viable than SE. What an irony. Another said ondo has more billionaires than SE, sorry Anambra? What a big Fo-ol! Is there anything like innosen motor factory in SW? Why is there not an Intl airport in a state that hosts it, a refinery and great industry/commerce. I want to give you yoruba folks an agenda to focus on... Start campaigning against Soludo as governor of Anambra State in 2014 because he is bringing an Intl airport to the state..... Cowardic disciples of awo

Bia! Its like you guys enjoy this tribal e-war. Apart from Dayokanu, shymmex and Eko0ile; how yorubas do you see here? Gareth is Edo, Ocelot2006 is from Akwa-Ibom, Otokx is from Rivers state, wirinet is from Delta. So, eff-off when people are having intelligent discussions!

GAR3TH: Why 3? Port harcourt and Enugu international are enough to serve the 15 million or so people living in the south east. Why not just upgrade those two airports instead of building new ones just a couple of miles away. You also have Calabar, Asaba and the airport in Imo, once again you can just upgrade those airports so they can have international flights.

Second enugu international airport has a yearly passenger traffic of 270,000* [all domestic]** people and port harcourt international has a yearly traffic of 850,000* people out of which only 13,000 were international flights according to FAAN. Compare that to Lagos which has a yearly traffic of 6,300,000 people.***

You cant justify building 3 airports in an area were international flight demands are low. Why not build something that will actaully give you return on your investment such as road or a rail way. There is no reason to build 3 new airports when the current ones dont even receive that much traffic. Like someone else said all this seems to be chest beating just so you can say the south east has 3 airports. but are the airports viable? cant those billions being spent be put to good use in other sectors?

* 2009 stats, airports were closed in 2010 and following years for renovation.

** No international carrier has flights from enugu international airport [lack of demand just like port harcourt?]

***2010 stats

Well said!

shymmex: What Eastern Nigeria needs includes the following:

- A thriving seaport in either Port Harcourt, Calabar, or Akwa Ibom.
- An inland water transport system across river Niger.
- An international airport.
- Railway transportation.
- Modernizing Onitsha and Aba to make them appealing to Nigerians and international investors.
- Finding a solution to erosion.
- An aggressive development of the dilapidated infrastructures and about 5million low cost houses, subsidized by the government.

Airport jamboree is unnecessary!

What about crime?

As Afam said, it should not be based on population but even at that, is three not too much when I hear people can tour the SE within 2 hrs? C'mon guys, its ridiculous.

We either upgrading the existing ones or build one solid one. Three is absurd!

chino11:


Why are you wasting your time over that maga. Onitsha and Nnewi has the bulk of big time business men and women who travel to all parts of the world on daily basis. My in-law is a good example of this; he is into electronics @ Electro-Mart Onitsha. He travels almost on weekly basis shipping stuffs throgh air and ship cargo.
Infact if there is any part of SE that needs international cargo airport it is Anambra and by extension Enugu state. Anambra Int'l cargo airport is needed urgently to serve the ever rising economic activities @ Onitsha and Nnewi.

I know for sure that Anambra int'l Passenger/cargo airport has been approved for Anambra state. With coming on stream of the refinery, am sure they will hasten the airport project.

http://www.aircargonews.net/News/Green-light-for-Nigeria-cargo-airport.aspx

Nwanne don't mind them fools,i hate when someone with little knowledge about us come here and spill trash,when you talk dey go sayy you dey boast,that is why i don't mind them cus some of them haven't really seen anything yet.They should hurry up with these international cargo airport is needed

Onlytruth: I laugh at those telling me that Nigeria has three half used international airports!
Like, has any of you really sat down to find out WHY those airports are half used?
Do you build airports away from its main users?

I bet you all that about 50% of those who would have used airports in the SE for instance (being Nigeria's ONLY REAL commerce region), are not using it. In fact they have probably downgraded their businesses to conform with the retrogressive and recidivist Nigerian reality. The only ones that travel all the way to Lagos to do their travels are the DIE HARD business people. Should that be the case? Why must simple things be so hard in Nigeria?
And for someone to come here and shamelessly say that Nigeria is a "developing nation" (read hopeless and never to grow) is truly depressing and saddening.

If you people don't know, I would demolish 10 so called international airports in commercially backwards parts of Nigeria, and build one at Onitsha to serve Onitsha and Nnewi.

The three airports I identified would be serving about 40 million people in Igboland.
Is that too much for us?

This is why I say that our people need a different type of education.

Fellow Countryman, come home and contest elections as a Member of NASS OR SHOASS. You would understand our country better. When people travel by Buses and Lorries at the mercy of Robbers, security agencies, bad roads and substandard parts to save expenses.