Lessons from the Enugu airport saga

Going by his self-declaration, the expectation in the South East is that the Honourable Minister of Aviation Senator Hadi Sirika is now a guest of the Enugu State Governor His Excellency Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi. Enugu State is one of those states with a sound pedigree in protocol matters. There is (or used to be) a surfeit of government guest houses in Old GRA and Independence Layout to host a guest of the calibre of the minister.

Sirika announced his plans to be part of life in Enugu for the next six months to ensure proper work on the rehabilitation of the Akanu Ibiam International Airport at the hallowed chambers of the Senate on October 22. He spoke as a man of honour before his former colleagues with firm assurances to all stakeholders of the Enugu Airport. The primary stakeholders are states of the South East, particularly Ebonyi, Enugu and Anambra. Passenger records show the Enugu Airport also serves travellers from Benue State, parts of Cross River, Kogi and Plateau.

Sirika told the Senate as he defended the budget of the Aviation Ministry that with the presidential approval of N10billion, contractors for the airport rehabilitation would move to site as soon as possible. Sirika disclosed that the president had directed all agencies concerned to work collaboratively to ensure delivery of the project in time. The minister pledged that on completion before the end of April 2020 the Enugu airport would rank with the best in the country.

There would be collateral damage as structures on the path of the airport would make way.  He also informed that he had received the assurances of the Enugu State Governor that the state would provide an enabling environment for the work.

One of the older airports in Nigeria, the Enugu Airport is significant for what it represents to a broad swathe of citizens and stakeholders. Its importance became even more pronounced since it became an international gateway. Stakeholders then included Africa’s leading carrier, Ethiopian Airlines, and those waiting in the wings to serve travellers who would instead come into the states it serves through Enugu rather than Lagos, Port Harcourt or Abuja.

Since the international status, many travellers of South East origin prefer to fly direct to Akanu Ibiam Airport from their far-flung bases in Asia, Europe and America. Many looked forward to flying direct to Enugu via Ethiopian Airlines for the annual Christmas pilgrimage to South East Nigeria circa December 2019.

I was one of those who felt the impact when the Aviation Ministry through FAAN shut this airport in February 2010. I was consulting for my alma mater, the University of Nigeria, and was a regular on the LOS-ENU route. We then had to fly to Owerri and connect by road to Enugu, then to Nsukka. If Dr Chidi Onyia’s vehicle was not available, I engaged Pete Ani, an entrepreneur who managed a fleet of Sullivan Taxis. It went on for 11 months.

It is thus easy to understand the high emotions that attended the closure. Emotions were so raw and the decibel of protest so high-pitched, some of it bordered on the irrational. The only way to make sense of it would be about the proverb that those once bitten by a snake see every black rope on the ground in that light.

The closure of Enugu Airport brought out many lessons. One is the heightened sense of awareness and civic activism on matters concerning the region and its relationship with the centre. In the age of social, discussions around the closure lit up many platforms on WhatsApp and Telegram in particular.

The more enlightened of the platforms did more than verbal punching and armchair agitation. Nzuko Umunna ensured collaboration with the South East Governors’ Forum in forming a team to interface with the Federal Airports Authority and the Ministry of Aviation. Nze Ugo Akpe Onwuka and the Igbo Renaissance Forum, as well as Igbo Ekunie Initiative, kept the issue on the front burner with a countdown. They have continued the count since the approval by President Muhammadu Buhari of N10b special budgetary appropriation for the airport reconstruction.

There is a significant misunderstanding between the South East and the Centre that needs bridging. Upon the president heeding the appeal of the leaders of the South East, I posted on Facebook,” Kudos to the Igbo political and socio-cultural leaders that stepped-up dialogue with PMB and got a commitment on Enugu Airport.”

A hail of angry responses followed. They claimed there was no call to appreciate the President for listening to our leaders, asserted that the federal authorities worked to bring the leaders kneeling for what ordinarily should be the right of the region and many chest-thumping pronouncements.

There is so much anger at the centre that many mistakes the trees for the forest. Not many could see the wisdom in the etiquette of acknowledging onye akidi. Nor in the introspection about the players who supervised the earlier work that lasted only a few years after a closure that lasted one full year in our recent past.

The major takeaway from the Enugu Airport saga though is that the South East needs to step up as one and begin to negotiate for its entitlements from the federation. Another is the need for citizens from the region to turn a similar searchlight on the governments of the five states. While everyone accepts that our governments can do much more than they are doing or have done, citizens usually focus on the other, the centre, rather than internally. Charity begins at home. So should advocacy for good governance.

Nevertheless, the awakening is good to see. We should work collectively and with circumspection and strategic nous to enable Sirika to live up to the billing of an honest broker who would deliver on both the timing and the specifications for the Enugu Airport.

Chido Nwakanma