Abia Airport Project: Opening Abia’s gate to international business frontiers
By Ogbonnaya Ikokwu
The Governor of Abia State, Alex Otti, has shown great commitment since he took over the reigns of power about 18 months ago in the infrastructure revolution he promised Abia people.
The governor has remained intentional in removing numerous barriers that hitherto made life difficult for Abia residents and slowed down their productivity in agriculture, trade, commerce, transportation and other sectors.
As a grassroots politician, Gov. Otti understands that Abia indigenes are hard working and enterprising individuals who mostly depend on their daily farming, medium and small scale businesses to provide for their family.
Consequently, the governor has left no stone unturned in providing the basic enablers for Abians to succeed in their various life endeavours. This accounts for the attention Gov. Otti has given to road construction and reconstruction, lighting up the streets, towns and villages in the state, as well as prompt payment of salaries and pensions to encourage wage earners to have enough money to spend on goods and services in order to maintain a stable economy in the state.
Recently, the governor announced the plans by the State Government to build an airport in Nsulu, a community in Isialangwa North Local Government Area of the state.
The importance of having an airport toward improving the economy of the state is quite numerous, considering the fact that Aba, the commercial hub of the state, houses a lot of largescale industries involved in the production of shoes, bags, leather works and garments among other products. For over five decades, made in Aba products have attracted buyers from many West African countries for business transactions.
Therefore, siting an airport in Nsulu, a community of a short travel distance to Aba, will provide local businesses in the city access to the global market. The airport will also help to attract other international businesses to the state and provide jobs and economic prosperity to host communities and the state at large.
Invariably, the airport, when actualised, will increase the state’s internally generated revenue with other range of services, including medical services and improved security. Other benefits of the project are expansion of the road networks around the host communities and opportunities for investors in the real estate to site estates in the area.
However, some indigenes of the host community have expressed their reservations over the proposed project during a peaceful protest on Monday, December 2.
Their major concern was that the proposed site is their farmland. They also alleged that most of the people the government had been dialoguing with were not the real owners of the land.
They referred the State Government to a site previously acquired by the previous government for the project. Some of the indigenes also expressed their reservations that the State Government might have hidden intention of acquiring the land without building the airport.
The community members may not be entirely blamed for their concerns on government’s intentions to build the airport, considering the inability to actualise the project after several publicity about it.
It will be recalled that a whooping N10 billion was borrowed from a commercial bank by the Okezie Ikpeazu administration for the Abia airport, but the project was abandoned, following a call by the Abia State Council of Traditional Rulers for Ikpeazu to jettison the project and focus on the construction of roads.
But the good news is that under the watch of Gov. Otti, projects are initiated to make meaningful impact on the residents of the state and not mainly for the purpose of playing politics. Abians can attest to the rate at which many quality road projects have been delivered under the present administration.
As a government that listens, the state has started engaging with the host communities to assuage their fears and secure their support for the proposed airport.
Leading this all important reconciliation talk with the host communities is the Chief of Staff to the Governor, Pastor Calab Ajagba, who is also an illustrious son of the soil.
Addressing journalists shortly after a crucial meeting with the representatives of the various host communities, Ajagba said that the people that protested were misinformed about the intentions of the government about the airport project site.
He pointed out that the government had already engaged the traditional rulers in the clan before now but decided to further engage the people to ensure they understood its intentions.
Ajagba insisted that the State Government would continue the engagement and also visit every community involved and expressed the hope that the visits would yield positive results.
He said: “There are people that may not understand the intentions of the government, that is why the engagement was initiated.
“I’m sure at the end of the visits and engagements, the people will have a clear view of the intentions of the government.
“The people you see here today have come from various communities and what we have been discussing is how we will continue to intensify the community engagement so that everybody is carried along in making sure that whatever concerns are addressed and resolved amicably.
“Part of our engagements is to explain to the people of Nsulu that nobody is trying to destroy their source of livelihood.”
“It is to make sure that government developmental projects were implemented to the overall benefit of everybody.”
He said that trees were being cut down now after which enumeration would be done. He added that the government would pay compensation to the members of the host communities.
The chief of staff, who said that the governor had shown unequal magnanimity in making sure that every part of the state was given a sense of belonging, appreciated the fact that the people of Nsulu were excited about the project which had numerous economic benefits. He added that no right thinking Nsulu man or woman is opposing the siting of the airport in Nsulu land.
Two representatives of the communities at the meeting, Dr Jessy Odu and Mr Kingsley Ukaegbu, while declaring their support for the siting of the proposed Abia airport in Nsulu land, said that of the eight host communities, it was only one that protested against the project, adding that the protest was as a result of misinformation.
They reeled out the benefits associated with siting the airport in the clan to include boosting their economic activities, creation of employment, among others.
Dr Odu, in particular, said that the airport, when realized, “is going to open up our land for real economic activities.
“It’s going to open up employment for the youths and many others,” he added.
One thing that members of Nsulu community can be sure of is that God has remembered them for good through the Gov. Otti and nobody can grab their land for any other purpose than the proposed airport.
Again, they should be assured that once the portion of the land where the airport will be sited is determined, the State Government, like in other places where peoples’ property were affected during road construction, will pay them compensation before the commencement of the project.
#Gov. Otti is Building the new Abia!
#To God be glory!
Ogbonnaya Ikokwu, a journalist and public affairs analyst, writes from Umuahia.