The Wilberforce Chuba Okadigbo airport, located in Ezza North and Ezza South local government areas of Ebonyi State, which was constructed during the administration of former Governor David Umahi, an engineer, remains a subject of controversy, gulping billions of naira without serving the purpose for which it was built.

The facility was inaugurated a few weeks to the end of the Umahi administration. But since it was constructed, the airport has continued to have one issue or the other arising from the construction pattern, preventing smooth flight operations at the airport.

Umahi?s successor, Francis Nwifuru, had told the people of the state after taking the mantle of leadership that the runway was constructed with concrete, which made it impossible for flights to land at the runway and immediately commenced its rehabilitation.

The rehabilitation of the runway cost over N20 billion. It was inaugurated by wife of the President, Sen. Oluremi Tinubu.

After the inauguration of the runway, full flight operations couldn?t commence at the airport. Another issue has been discovered at the airport by the governor, who said the terminal building at the airport was leaking and must be re-roofed for flight operations to go on in the airport without hitches.

He disclosed this to journalists at Abakaliki, the state capital, while answering questions on the airport after the second anniversary celebrations. He said the re-roofing of the leaking terminal building would cost about N2 billion and that the bill has been brought to him by the contractor that will handle the project.

Nwifuru said: ?People are just taking the Ebonyi airport issue to the stage that I don?t know. We don?t really have issues in Ebonyi airport. The other day, I saw a post on Facebook where water took over some sections of the airport and I went to the airport myself and saw what happened.

?Originally, some places were designed to be flat roof and it was roofed with concrete. Some places were also designed to be roofed with corrugated aluminum, while very much oven-baked aluminum was used to roof those places and those places that were used with aluminum are not leaking.

?Now, we found out that where we have water collectors and the drainage inside the roof and we started having some leakages there for which you can?t blame anybody. Before, we were blaming some contractors but now we have realized that its not the contractors? fault.

?So, what we are doing now is to re-roof everywhere. They have brought their bill and it is about N2bn to re-roof it but it?s not an issue. We didn?t give anybody job and the person didn?t do it. If we had given the person job and the person didn?t do it, we would have been saying that the person did a shoddy job. But we hope this is a flat roof and we did a decking. That the decking is leaking is not anybody?s fault.?

Nwifuru took time to explain why commercial operations were yet to begin in the airport. He explained: ?Flight operation is ongoing in the airport, depending on the side you want to talk about. If you talk about commercial operations in the airport, it is not of our own making.

?For us, it is politics and you must struggle as a leader to navigate all the troubles and sort it out. Once aircraft is landing in the airport, what it shows is that the airport is ready for operation.

?In commercial operation of the airport, there is what they called design plan of the airport, which we have not done and they are giving us about three to four months to do it. But they have given us what they called temporal approval for landing and it must be a booked flight landing.

?So, for the commercial operation to take off completely, we must do our own part as a state. Now, they are already investigating our staff and that is the last stage of it, to find out if we have qualified and professional staff that can handle so many departments, and once they certify that, then commercial operation will take off.?

The governor had told the people of the state that a lot of projects were still ongoing at the airport. He made the revelation in Izhamgbo, Ohaukwu LGAof the state when he flagged off construction of the industrial city in the area with many stakeholders of the state in attendance.

?In that airport, we have a lot of projects ongoing but you know an elder doesn?t say everything he sees, but we have a lot of projects ongoing in that airport. Our tower is a temporal tower we brought from NIMET and they are threatening to take their tower and our own is ongoing.

?Our airport lighting is also ongoing and ours is one of the most sophisticated and one of the most modern monitors. So, you can be in London and look at the airport and when you are landing, you can land at a zero degree.

?So, it is going to be one of the best if we are able to complete it but I was promised by the contractor few days ago that the light at the runway will be on before the end of next week.

?Now, we have so many other issues at the airport. The whole of the terminal building, we need to pull it down because it is leaking all round and we have sunk a lot of money there and it is Alo Aluminum. It?s high time we call names.

?It is the problem of Alo Aluminum because at a point of giving contract for the roofing of that building, Engineer Dave Umahi said I will not give this thing to any contractor. I will give it to the manufacturer so that if there is any problem, we will hold him responsible and he paid Alo Aluminum handsomely for that job.

?But we will get it done, don?t worry. Nobody can bring my morale down. So, that is what is going on there. They said we should do what is called plang which we are almost through. Some of our people are also the trouble because about last five months, the commissioner for aviation applied for the money and we approved it in Exco and I released the money and I was never told or discussed with that this project has not been completed because it?s a paper work, it?s not a physical thing that I can say, it is done or not done and once you are done, you will present it to the NCAA or FAAN.

?So, it is when this crisis came that I found out that this project has not been completed. So, there is no formula, there is no details for them to know what is happening in that airport, what is functioning and what is not functioning.

?So, before they bring commercial aircraft there, everything has to be on ground and to be working and that?s another issue but that one is from our people and you don?t need to blame anybody. It?s another issue but by the grace of God, we must combat all the issues that are there to challenge us and it is also to educate us. Sometimes, when you face difficulties, you learn a lot. I am happy that, by the special grace of God, we will get it right. Before the end of next month, we will get it right,? he said.

The state commissioner for aviation and transport technology, Mrs. Ngozi Obichukwu, said the airport remains one of the best in the country despite the issues therein. She dismissed the claims of flood in the airport, describing those peddling the rumour that the airport was facing flood as peddlers of falsehood.

She said: ?There is nothing like flooding in this airport. This is a clean project that we are already putting in use. Aircraft have been landing and taking off in this airport, we just received two flights this morning.

?You saw one that was parked there. Another one is coming before 5pm today. Like I?ve been saying, we have rules and regulations from the regulatory bodies of aviation.

?The airport is not an ordinary keke park, or bus park, or ordinary motorcycle park. It is something that is scientific. And it is something that is technical.

?The airport is where we want to ensure the safety of lives. Let there be safety. And for you to get it right, you must do according to these laid down regulations. Right now, we are just ending with chartered flight regulation.

?We are entering another regulation of passenger lifting. And that is why if you go to some of our platforms, you see where I posted our flight operation in June.

?Those of our passengers that are air-friendly, the world?s air travellers, can board United Nigeria Airlines to Ebonyi from Abuja. They can board Abuja, or rather Ebonyi to Abuja. And then they can board Lagos to Ebonyi, and Ebonyi to Lagos.

?Again, further information about where you board, how you are going to pay, how you are going to land and all that will be posted very soon. So, we are good to go. We are taking it one at a time.

?We cannot run faster than our shadows and we cannot do something that will close the airport. Any slightest mistake will close this airport from the federal regulators. That is why the governor, a determined man, a successful man, a seasoned administrator, is taking his time to make sure that whatever they require, whatever they ask him, he does it.

?So, we are not in a hurry. We don?t want to make mistakes. The edifice is serving its purpose already. Very soon, the passengers will outnumber even the people that are not aware that Ebonyi is existing, will be aware that Ebonyi Airport is on. But let us take it one at a time.

?Those who are saying that the Chuba Okadigbo Airport is not working are liars.They are born liars. Some of them have never even crossed this gate. Some have never even entered the door of a flight. And some will be telling you there is nothing. How will you know that the airport is working when you have not even been here?

?And so my governor is not moved by negative criticism. He is determined to succeed. And he is succeeding and nobody will stop him from getting to the goal. We are already there.?

But a chieftain of the People?s Democratic Party (PDP) in the state, Moses Idika, described the airport as a fraud. He argued that the airport was never planned neither was consultation made before its construction.

?Like I have stated in other fora, the Chuba Okadigbo Airport is a fraud orchestrated to swindle Ebonyi State. The airport was never planned, proper consultations were never made and that is why the airport cannot work.

?I spoke with a very senior official of one of the regulatory agencies of the federal government and the person said that Umahi finished building his airport before looking for certifications and accreditation.

?So, from the runway, the terminal building to the access roads, all are substandard. You can see that the terminal building may have to be brought down completely and rebuilt, same for the tower and other facilities.

?Imagine that Gov. Nwifuru spent over N20 billion to repair an unused airport runway, yet no plane is landing there, not even chattered flights. So, I urge Ebonyi people to call for an immediate probe of the scam called Chuba Okadigbo Airport,? Idika said.

About N42 billion was expended on the project by the Umahi administration that initiated it. Residents of its host communities alleged that their properties were destroyed without compensation as they were forcefully evicted from their homes before the airport was constructed. Bulldozers were used to demolish buildings.

Stakeholders of the communities, including traditional rulers and government officials, supported the siting of the airport in the communities, while common residents rejected it and vowed that they would never leave the communities as, according to them, the location was their ancestral homes.

The residents refused to leave the communities and held a series of protests to insist on their decision not to vacate the land. The state government had to employ force against them and their properties were destroyed with armed security men stationed in different parts of the communities to ensure that the residents did not obstruct any activity on the land for the construction of the airport.

The then government succeeded in taking over the land and constructed the airport, which generated criticism from many members of the public. Critics of the multibillion-naira airport argued that it was not needed in a state where poverty was its biggest challenge, coupled with high internal and external debts and its closeness to Akanu Ibiam International Airport, Enugu. They said that the Ebonyi airport was less than 45 minutes? drive to the Enugu airport.

The critics said, according to data from from National Bureau of Statistics, Ebonyi has the highest poverty rate in Southern Nigeria, with a staggering 80% of its esimated four million population classified as living in poverty.

They further argued that the state was one most indebted states in the country and owing external debt of $92,655,060.01, or N157 billion, while its cumulative internal debt stands at over N70 billion, aside from various commitments to some other domestic financial institutions.

The data, according to the airport critics, was released in June this year but the state government, represented by the commissioner for information and state orientation, said it has never borrowed a dime to run the state and was not ready to do so, saying the debt was inherited. It described the data as unverifiable. (Daily Sun)

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