THE defiant attitude of some governors towards building unviable airport in their states without considering the economic and the subsequent liability on their states is like a time bomb waiting to explode not only on the already saturated financial capacity of the Federal Government, but particularly on the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), the agency of government directly responsible for managing airports.
FAAN has continued to be used as the sacrificial lamb amidst the rush by the state governors whenever they run out of ideas regarding the nitty gritty entailing implications of foisting airports on their states, as such state governors end up transferring the burden of such airports and their liabilities to the government agency.
Some of the state-owned airports include: Anambra Airport, completed in 2021 at a cost of N6 billion; Ekiti Cargo Airport, completed in 2023 at a cost of N16.6 billion; Bayelsa International Airport, built by former governor, Seriake Dickson and completed in 2019; MKO Abiola International Airport (Osun), which construction began in 2012 with a revised cost of N11 billion; Ogun State Gateway Agro- Cargo International Airport with its construction dated back to 2021, with a projected cost of N40 billion.
Other states that have embarked on airports, whether for passenger or cargo operations, are Akwa Ibom, Delta, Jigawa, Kebbi, Gombe, Imo, Taraba, Katsina, Zamfara, Niger, Ebonyi, Nassarawa and Yobe.
Nearly all the state-owned airports, except Ibom Airport, has not justified the state funds injected into building them as they have fallen under the category of the unviable and wasted ventures in view of the almost zero patronage and activities at the airports.
Even while it has become clear that the already existing state-owned airports are nothing but failed projects, more governors are still hell bent on embarking on this same unprofitable journey as they are insisting on building state-owned airports.
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Amidst the desperation to build more state-owned airports, key players have called out state governors still bent on the enterprise cautioning them against the imminent negative judgment that may haunt them even when they leave office.
In an exclusive interview with the Nigerian Tribune, a senator in the Ninth National Assembly, Senator Kola Balogun, reminded such governors who will still choose to build an airport that will not bring economic value to their states to remember posterity.
According to Balogun, any governor or political appointee who engages in unnecessary projects probably for his personal interest would not be part of any success story during his time and after.
“Posterity will judge everybody for whatever we do while we are in office. It does not make sense to want to build an airport for example, that will not have the required traffic account
“So, if you are now going to build an airport in states that really will not be commercially or economically viable and there is no technical argument to support it and you are doing so just because of your own interest either as a governor or whoever, well, posterity will judge you accordingly and when people will begin to write the success story of that state, you will not be part of it because for me, it’s not what you are able to do for yourself but what you are able to do for your people and the state.
“After all, the position or place you are occupying belongs to the people, you are just holding the place in trust for the people. Just try to justify the position by using it to serve the people because God put you there so that you can use the position not to serve yourself, but the people and when you are serving people, you are serving God and history will also remember you”, he said.
For a renowned labour leader in the sector, Olayinka Abioye, while the craze for state-owned airports has been a subject of debates for long, despite the good sides provided by airports in states, he alleged that it also serves as a conduit to steal public funds. “There is no gainsaying the humongous benefits air transportation brings to bear on society. Aside the movement of goods and services, it creates job opportunities for people directly and indirectly, serves as revenue generating channels to operators of the airport/airports and also serves as a conduit to steal public funds.
“There are two schools of thought on the matter of states establishing airports only for such airports become a burden that states can no longer carry and the burden is pushed to the Federal Government through the FAAN.
Personally, looking at this development with mixed feelings, I am happy that some states are being connected by air through these airports, while at the same time, many of these airports are a collosal waste of scarce resources which should have been deployed into building schools and medical facilities for the populace if our governors meant well.
“Notwithstanding, the fundamental fact that a state governor who de-sires an airport can establish one, I feel sad that our Ministry of Aviation is indirectly aiding and abetting misapplication of state funds by granting approvals to the states without adequate feasibility studies on the viability and sustainability or otherwise of such airports. I also ap- portion blame to the regulatory body for assenting to such approvals from the ministry.
“It is unfortunate that given the huge financial outlay that comes with flying an airplane into any airport, many airports are currently serving as mini-museums since airlines hardly fly into them on regular basis given several factors such as passenger patronage, cost of flying and distance between the airports to the city centre,’’ he said.
“I would advise that a more holistic approach be applied by both the ministry and the NCAA in granting approvals to states as many of such requests are more political than economically profitable and sensible. Rather than pay the states back construction costs by the Federal Government, I will also suggest that any state that wishes to shift the burden of its airports on the Federal Government must be made to make payments to the Federal Government to cover costs of taking over such airports, maybe this will reduce their quests to misbehave,” he added.
The labour leader cited the case of one state in the Eastern part of the country where he said the governor claimed to have built an airport that cannot be found anywhere only to recount that some stakeholders decided to vire the funds for some other projects, an at- tempt he described as ‘institutional corruption’.
In his own comments, the Managing Director of Centurion Security Services, Group Captain John Ojikutu, (retd), compared the issue of building state airports to engaging in private airlines operations without adequate business plans.
“The states building airports are not different from the private airline operators with no credible business plans, but offer to depend on the Federal Government for intervention funds. Whether private airline operators or state airports, I blame the NCAA that approves their operating licences and certificates. For FAAN and the Federal Government, it is nothing but institutional corruption.
“States can establish airports only if the business plan is right with passengers and or cargo traffic. Outside Akwa Ibom State-owned airport, there is hardly a state airport that has more than 100,000 passengers traffic annually. This is a waste when you consider the operational cost and the cost of periodic maintenance,” he said.
