The South-East Governors Forum and former Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu have appealed to President Muhammadu Buhari to allow more international flights into Akanu Ibiam International Airport (AIIA), Enugu.
The forum Chairman and Governor of Ebonyi State, Dave Umahi, while speaking on Sunday during the reopening ceremony of the airport in Enugu, noted that more international flight operations would improve the region’s economy.
He thanked President Buhari for the reopening and recommencement of flight operations into the airport after the year-long rehabilitation work.
In his own remarks, Gov. Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi of Enugu State, also thanked the President for approving N10 billion for the rehabilitation of the runway and other critical infrastructure at the airport.
He observed that the state government also made some sacrifices to see that the rehabilitation work went on smoothly.
“The Enugu State Government, in a bid to ensure a level environment to help the project along, completely removed all obstacles and projects, including Emene Market, which attracted birds and was a safety concern.
“We completely removed all encroachment at the airport environment. We totally removed the Radio and Television masks from the airport; we constructed a 1.3 kilometres Asphalt road.
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“We removed five units of two storey houses, 14 units of houses, one Church Cathedral, 438 Shopping Malls along Eleme among other things.
“We did a number of sacrifice for the Enugu Airport, and now it is a sacrifice that is worth it,” he said.
Former Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, lent his voice to the call for more international flights into the airport.
He also called for the completion of the cargo section of the airport.
He said: “We want immediate commercial flights to start coming into Enugu.
“We also seek the approval of more international flights into Enugu Airport, Emirates and others and we want the president to finish the cargo section of the airport.”
Ekweremadu expressed gratitude to four individuals for their contributions towards ensure Enugu International Airport became a reality.
He thanked the late President Umaru Yar’Adua, who granted approval for Enugu to be designated as an international airport; the immediate past President, Goodluck Jonathan for ensuring that the airport was gazetted as an international airport and the start of operations; President Buhari for approving N10 billion to see the project through to its conclusion and the aviation minister for keeping to the promise he made to deliver the project within a year.
