kmariko: .

It is the point, you cannot fly or establish stuff without the consent of the government. Who made them lose their status, isn't the governement withdrawing their license and forbid international travels from there. That Ibadan lost there Status not necessitate that others must follow the same part. Most International Airports all over the world have government control and oversite. You cannot operate one without their consent period.

I wonder O. So Ibadan is now the yardstick for accepting anomalies, if they lost their status then it makes sense that others should follow. See how Nigerians even the ones living abroad reason? It is like they are born with tribal coded DNA, na wa o

rhymz: I wonder O. So Ibadan is now the yardstick for accepting anomalies, if they lost their status then it makes sense that others should follow. See how Nigerians even the ones living abroad reason? It is like they are born with tribal coded DNA, na wa o

Please read it again , should be does not necessitate that other airports should lose their status. Logica mentioned Ibadan in his write up not me. I never knew Ibadan was an international airport pre-war, never researched it. please carefully read my write up it has no ethnic coloration

kmariko:
Please read it again , should be does not necessitate that other airports should lose their status. Logica mentioned Ibadan in his write up not me. I never knew Ibadan was an international airport pre-war, never researched it. please carefully read my write up it has no ethnic coloration

Please ignore the dude. He inferred I was being tribalistic despite the fact that I already stated my ambivalence towards this move by the minister several times.

For one, just before the war, the regions were abolished. That is what resulted in the loss of "status" of Ibadan, Enugu and Kaduna; which all enjoyed comparable status and activity to Lagos being seats of regional governments. You cannot of course expect them to continue to enjoy this status after several states had been formed. That was my point.

logica: Please ignore the dude. He inferred I was being tribalistic despite the fact that I already stated my ambivalence towards this move by the minister several times.

For one, just before the war, the regions were abolished. That is what resulted in the loss of "status" of Ibadan, Enugu and Kaduna; which all enjoyed comparable status and activity to Lagos being seats of regional governments. You cannot of course expect them to continue to enjoy this status after several states had been formed. That was my point.

.

Am of the opinion that if you want it, build it, market it, ( or find a niche market, be it cameroun, gabon, congo, zim,) it really doesn't matter as long as revenue and the attendant improvement in employment is achieved. from my research a tiny state in Japan called Okayama, they built an international airport run by ANA that serviced South Korea only for many years before branching out to other Asian countries. Its all about marketing once the airport is built.

kmariko: .

Am of the opinion that if you want it, build it, market it, ( or find a niche market, be it cameroun, gabon, congo, zim,) it really doesn't matter as long as revenue and the attendant improvement in employment is achieved. from my research a tiny state in Japan called Okayama, they built an international airport run by ANA that serviced South Korea only for many years before branching out to other Asian countries. Its all about marketing once the airport is built.

The airport is already completed (renovated) isn't it? The worry of some is the viability/sustainability of forcing traffic through the airport; a worry I really don't share.

http://allafrica.com/stories/200912070668.html

Nigeria: South East Senators Tackle Omotoba Over Enugu Airport
Tagged: Business, Infrastructure, Nigeria, Travel, West Africa
By Christopher Isiguzo, 7 December 2009

Comment

Enugu — Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu yesterday dismissed the recent statement credited to the Aviation Minister, Babatunde Omotoba to the effect that the Akanu Ibiam airport has not been designated as an international airport by the Federal Government, saying that the minister was being economical with the truth.

Ekweremadu's remark is coming even as the South East Caucus of the Senate has vowed to pursue the internationalisation of the Enugu Airport to a logical conclusion, insisting that since President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua had already approved the new status of the airport, it remains irreversible.

Its not today that Yorrobers began undermining Igbos

Omotoba and Controversy over Enugu Airport This is a 2009 article.

Last week, the Minister of Aviation, Babatunde Omotoba, said while flagging off rehabilitation work at the Akanu Ibiam Airport , Enugu, that the Federal Government had not given international status to Enugu airport. He made the statement in response to the speech delivered the same day, November 30, in the same city by the Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, who reiterated the upgrading of the airport by President Musa Yaradua. Omotoba said, I cannot confirm that Enugu airport has become an international airport for now. We have four international airports, Lagos , Abuja , Kano and Port Harcourt but we have other airports that have started showing signs of strong traffic. That is Calabar, Enugu , Kaduna and Benin , and government is determined to ensure that available systems in the airports meet up with relevant standards.

The statement seems to contradict earlier pronouncement credited to President Yaradua that the airport has been upgraded to international status and which was not denied by the office of the President. The decision to upgrade the airport was made public by the erstwhile Minister of Transport, Diezani Madueke, as the Office of the Federal Ministry of Transport issued a press statement on November 14, 2007 titled: President Musa Yaradua Approves Upgrading of Enugu Airport, which was signed by Lawrence Ojabo, the then Chief Press Secretary of the Ministry.
The statement said, The President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Alhaji Umaru Musa Yaradua, has given approval for the upgrading of the Akanu Ibiam Airport, Enugu, to the status of an international airport.
The statement also said, The Minister of Transport, Mrs. Diezani Allison-Madueke, disclosed today, Tuesday, 13th November 2007, that the President’s action was aimed at alleviating the travails of the many business men and travellers from the zone. The President’s approval would enable the Ministry commence on a phased programme of major infrastructural upgrading and developments at the airport, to transform it into a major sub-regional transportation hub, utilizing existing budgetary appropriations along with new initiatives under Private Investment Schemes to generate the requisite funds. She expressed the hope that the exercise could be completed within the next few years.

The statement was reported in the media on November 15, 2007 and the reports were never denied by the Federal Government; nor did the Federal Ministry of Transport retract the statement.

Disappointment
This explained why many were alarmed at the Aviation Minister’s statement. Many who spoke to THISDAY said that either the Minister was ignorant of this development or he was mischievous. After the announcement of the upgrading of the airport, Senator Ekweremandu commended the President and said that the decision of the Federal Executive Council to approve the upgrading projects has sent clear signals to people of the South East geo-political zone of the President’s good will and commitment to equal development of all the parts of the country. Ekweremadu said with the right disposition by our governors, especially Governor Sullivan Chime, it was easy for the legislators to sustain the request that has today, resulted in a bouquet of projects that will ensure the internationalization of the Akanu Ibiam Airport.

All these were made public at that time and this is why many Nigerians were shocked by the Minister’s statement.

High Traffic
THISDAY learnt from a senior official of one of the major airlines that operate to Enugu that the airport records 18 flights daily, noting that this is even inadequate because every day many passengers are stranded at the airport because of limited number of flights.

The source disclosed that ticket racketeering is still a big business in Enugu because there are never enough seats for passengers, so the touts connive with some airline officials and sell tickets to only those who are ready to bribe their way.

Today Arik Air operates five in-bound and five out-bound flights from Lagos and Abuja to Enugu; Aero three in-bound and three out-bound flights while Dana air now operates one in-bound and one out-bound, which is a total of 18 flights a day. This is not enough. If you come to the airport you will see that on daily basis passengers are left behind. Many who want to travel are forced to defer their flights because aircraft cannot take them. That is why touting is still rampant at the airport. Every aircraft that leaves Enugu airport is fully laden with passengers. The load factor is very high. As Christmas is approaching you will see the scramble that will be going on at the airport every day the source said.

Industry observer and former public affairs manager of the defunct Nigeria Airways Limited, Chris Aligbe (from Edo State), told THISDAY in an interview that when President Yaradua made a policy that there should be international airport in every geo-political zone of the country, he was pre-emptive of the growing aviation market in the country.

O[b]bviously, when the President decided that every geo-political zone should have an international airport, that’s when he named Enugu as one of the airports that will become an international airport. Enugu is sitting on a market, an air travel market. When you get to Onitsha , Nnewi you will know where the traffic is going; they are going to the Far East . Look at the itinerant traders. If you designate the Enugu airport and give it international status, probably the first airline that will get there will be China Southern.[/b]
He said that Enugu airport could be lucrative for international operators because many Nigerian travellers who go to Asia and Middle East to buy goods come from Aba, Onitsha, Enugu, Abakaliki, Nnewi, Awka and other towns from the East, so if the airport is designated for international operation it will save these passengers the hassles of travelling to other far away cities to board international flights.
Regional Hubs

Aligbe suggests that if Enugu, Kano, Port Harcourt, Maiduguri are given the chance to develop their market potentials, they would in future grow into sub-regional hubs. But he noted that the Aviation Minister, who once said in an interview that the Federal Government had lost enthusiasm about developing a central hub, but would grow international airports, modernize and expand them to be some of the best in the world, did not want to give the Enugu airport such chance to grow.

Aligbe said, We have growing markets at the major airports in the country. Kano is there, Abuja is there. And we are looking at Maiduguri , Port Harcourt and Enugu . And you know the trend of the traffic. So you designate these airports and adopt developmental programme that will focus on these markets. And you know that this will be the centre of air travel operations within that geo-political zone. Other airports will become feeders to these major airports. The idea of having one hub or making only Lagos a hub has become an anathema, it is outdated. So I don’t believe on a single hub in this country. There should be hubs. I don’t see why Kano should not be a hub for Middle East and North Africa travel. I don’t see why it should not be a hub for that. Abuja can be a hub because Abuja is the country’s capital. Lagos is the commercial capital. Enugu can be a hub for flights going to certain destinations looking at the trend of the air passenger traffic.

THISDAY learnt that this was among the reason behind the decision of the Federal Government when it upgraded the status of Enugu and other airports. A senior Federal Government official in the aviation sector told THISDAY that Abuja as Federal Capital Territory would be made a hub and would have its facilities upgraded so that it would acquire the physical status that reflects its location, which is the seat of government.
This is why concerted effort is being made to rehabilitate and expand the airport, starting with the dualisation of the runway. The source also said that by upgrading the status of some airports, government wished to be abreast of the trend in the aviation world, where airports, which are largely private sector driven these days, are encouraged to grow without encumbrances and their growth determined by the volume of passenger traffic.

A travel expert, Ikechi Ukoh, told THISDAY that the Minister might have a reason that may not be known by the Nigerian public why Enugu airport should not be given international status, but by volume of traffic and its potential, it deserves to be an international airport.It is only the Minister that knows why he said that Enugu airport is not international airport, but from what we know about the traffic from that airport and the fact that international airlines would record huge load factor if they operate from that airport, it should be made an international airportt Ukoh said.
Provocation.

Reactions from Nigerians, especially from the South East zone indicate that Omotoba by that statement has touched a raw nerve in the heart of the people of the zone. The Internet and Nigerian media have been inundated with protest comments in response to the Minister’s statement.

But not all are angry with Omotoba’s comment, which was largely described as political statement. An industry observer who spoke to THISDAY on condition of anonymity said that the Minister was just being realistic because with the kind of terminal and obsolete facilities at the Enugu airport, no reasonable government would designate it international airport.

The airport has been neglected over the years that it has become so rustic and outmoded. First, the Federal Government should rehabilitate it, expand it before pronouncing it international airport; not in the state it is now. But government, represented by the Minister has no plans for that airport, he said. But observers believe that all that is needed is to upgrade the facilities in the airport so that it can meet international standard.
Industry observers who are angry with the Minister say that he seemed to be ignorant of the Federal Executive Council’s decision to upgrade the airport.
A source who described such ignorance as unbefitting of a Minister, said:

You should acknowledge that government once took that decision but now it may not be realistic, but not to denounce it. By his statement it shows that he has his own agenda which is incompatible with that of the Federal Government.


https://www.google.com/search?q=Omotoba+and+Controversy+over+Enugu+Airport&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a

I am completely justified:

1. We need an international airport in each region and each should be a hub for travel to certain parts of the world
2. Enugu will make a very viable international airport (to Asia, the USA, East and Southern Africa, etc)
3. Many of the international travelers in Nigeria originate from the East
4. A yoruba tried to kill/diminish the internationalization of the airport

.

Kudos to @Desola and @Katsumoto, as usual. Keep on representing, guys.

Hey, @Katsumoto, don't be cowered by the Igbo cannibals. You were spot on for referring to their erosion-drenched region as the East. That's how I call it. I don't believe in that moronic 'S-' whatever! The stupid idea to group us (the Yoruba) with those human eaters always make me uncomfortable. Essentially, we're from the West and they're from the East. That's why one of the most popular musicians in Yorubaland, Tunde Nightingale, was famously referred to as 'The Western.' The cannibals from the East also refer to themselves rightly so. One of their human eating, village clowns' groups referred to its members as 'The Oriental Brothers.' Orient is the East while occident is the West. So, Kats' don't let them force you to say SS or SE - we don't believe in that bullcrap. Also, you don't have to call them Igbo, they're Ibo or simply the way we pronounce their name as the Igbos! I prefer calling them Igbos to even Ibos. So, call a spade a spade -- I got your back!
@The Topic:
Igbos are moroons of the highest order. Why force international airlines to go to your hellhole in the accursed East? In America, most of the international carriers fly in and out of JFK (NY) and Atlanta, GA than elsewhere. Travelers have to take local planes to either NY or GA to connect their international flights. Almost every Nigerian that wants to fly on Delta for a direct flight to Nigeria has to travel to Atlanta, GA, regardless of where they live in the US. In order for you to travel to Saudi Arabia for Haj (pilgrimage) you have to fly into or drive or catch a train to JFK in NY. Imagine a Nigerian traveling from Washington, DC or Dallas, TX on a Delta airliner having to travel first to Atlanta -- still nobody screams 'marginalization' or crazy sh!t like the Igbos are known for. If you like build airports in every LGA in Nigeria no-one cares. After all, Counties even get their own airports in America (and I'm not talking about airstrips here). Stop forcing!

Nice idea. Let's do it this way
If its in abuja out of hundred 20 will fly frm abuja the rest 80 frm other parts of the country. Seriously you didn't make a good point. You shot yourself wit your point
Lets say there are 100 passengers flying from Enugu to Dubai.

20 passengers are from Enugu/Onitsha, while the rest of the passengers are from Abuja and other Northern states.

I am assuming that Western passengers will use Lagos airport to travel to the same destination.

In this case, 80 passengers (a majority) will have to take additional flights to get to Abuja and other Northern states.

Ignoring the economic effects/benefits of the internal flights, 80 people will have to take the added risk of flying internal when everyone knows the dangerous state of Nigeria's airline industry. That is what I meant by safety.

Obviously, this wouldn't be the case if the majority of passengers were from the East. But since we don't know for sure, we are guessing and thats why I used conditional statements and not definitive ones.
[/quote]

I concur with Hon Kawu. I see no reason why people from Abuja will fly first to Lagos before going to Dubai. It is absurd. Hon. Kawu is speaking on the fact that those three airlines are Islamic countries airlines. If those plane can land in countries like USA and UK I see no reason why they can't land in Abuja.
Pls minister give them licence abeg.

I agree with ekt bear, what has tribalism got to do with that. abi na north or hausa get etihad, emirates or turkish airline. the guy should address his constituency issues. am sure he's always traveling to dubai instead of carrying out duties to which he was elected.

We are getting there. Soon will fly direct to Alaigbo without the hazzales of MMA Lagos.