How Anambra airport was saved from shutting down

The Anambra International Airport which was at the verge of shutdown on Sunday morning, was saved by the Anambra state government

The Anambra International Airport which was at the verge of shutdown on Sunday morning, was saved by the Anambra state government from the near disaster following plans by air traffic controllers and other essential service providers to stop work because of ejection of the workers from their hotels.

The Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA) workers had already refused to go to work; an action that would have disrupted flight operations to Anambra State.

A radio message by controllers read, “any station/DATCO sending flight to Anambra Airport today (Sunday) should first confirm whether the airport is operational.

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“The reason is that all NAMA staff working at the airport were suddenly vacated from accommodations yesterday without prior information. Even those on duty are being asked to pay for their accommodations for last night.
As at the time of this report we are all in hotel packing our belongs to leave.”

BusinessDay learnt that this however made the state government quickly reached out to the management of NAMA to forestall actions that would cut off air travel to the state and attendant hiccups to passengers who would have suffered hardship of flight disruptions.

Abayomi Agoro, president, National Air Traffic Controllers Association (NATCA) confirmed that the state government had reached an agreement with the workers to continue to provide accommodation for them in the discharge of their duties.

Ifeoma Okeke-Korieocha

Ifeoma Okeke-Korieocha is the Aviation Correspondent at BusinessDay Media Limited, publishers of BusinessDay Newspapers. She is also the Deputy Editor, BusinessDay Weekender Magazine, the Saturday Weekend edition of BusinessDay. She holds a BSC in Mass Communication from the prestigious University of Nigeria, Nsukka and a Masters degree in Marketing at the University of Lagos. As the lead writer on the aviation desk, Ifeoma is responsible and in charge of the three weekly aviation and travel pages in BusinessDay and BDSunday. She also overseas and edits all pages of BusinessDay Saturday Weekender. She has written various investigative, features and news stories in aviation and business related issues and has been severally nominated for award in the category of Aviation Writer of the Year by the Nigeria Media Nite-Out awards; one of the Nigeria’s most prestigious media awards ceremonies. Ifeoma is a one-time winner of the prestigious Nigeria Media Merit Award under the 'Aviation Writer of the Year' Category. She is the 2025 Eloy Award winner under the Print Media Journalist category. She has undergone several journalism trainings by various prestigious organisations. Ifeoma is also a fellow of the Female Reporters Leadership Fellowship of the Wole Soyinka Centre for Investigative Journalism.