Soludo Mulls Floating Anambra Airline

ROSE ORANYE 

Anambra State Government, under the leadership of Prof Chukwuma Charles Soludo, is strategically keying into the national policy on transportation while it considers floating an airline or partnering other airlines to meet people’s demands.

The State’s Commissioner for Transport, Patricia Igwebuike, disclosed this at the just concluded 9th All Nigeria Airport Business Summit and Expo, with theme, “Addressing Airport Viability as a Key to Successful Aviation Business Ambition,” held at NIGAV Centre, Murtala Mohammed International Airport, Lagos.

According to her, the Chinua Achebe International Cargo and Passenger Airport, situated at Umueri, which will be three years by December has done over 5,700 flights and over 343,000 passengers.

“To attract footprints into the airport, we are doing quite a lot; talking to investors. As we speak, we have more than 30 proposals for concession and management agreements. To attract airlines, we have seen that there’s a lot of demands from people flying from Anambra or people intending to fly to Anambra and we are talking to other airlines like Ibom Air and others. The idea is that we are looking at the numbers (because our governor is a numbers man) to know whether we need as a state to float an airline or do we need to partner with an airline because the demand is high,” she said.

The commissioner further explained that with the Onitsha River Seaport, the railway, which the state is finishing the feasibility study and the land transportation, Anambra is keying into the national policy on transportation and is not just doing her own thing.

Igwebuike further said the essence of the Chinua Achebe Airport was on cargo and that the ideology of building an airport at Umueri started in 1979.

“There’s work in progress at the airport and we are beautifully situated in Anambra as the gateway to the South East. Everywhere in Anambra State is a commercial site. Some states are one-city state but in Anambra, every city, town is viable and that viability is what necessitated the building of the airport. It’s not just something that came out of the blues.”

“As far back as 1979, the idea of having an airport in that region was muted by the then governor, Jim Nwobodo. If you check the Anambra State House of Assembly hansard of that era, it was mentioned that Umueri, then Umuleri, was the best suited place for having an airport and the ideology continued to Peter Obi era with Orient Petroleum. It was Governor Obiano that started implementing because the land, although was acquired but it was not paid for in terms of compensation. It was Governor Obiano that paid the compensation and implemented the construction of the airport and the airport is mainly for cargo and passengers.”

“The cargo aspect of it is because we are a commercial state; we build, we sell. All the statistics will tell you that a great percentage of the imports in the Southern part of Nigeria, more than 50 percent return to Anambra State. So that’s the concept behind the airport,” she said, adding that the future is bright for the airport and the state.