Honourable Abimbola Adekanmbi, a chartered accountant, is a one time commissioner of finance for Oyo State, a former deputy Chief of Staff to late Governor Ajimobi and presently , Chairman of the committee responsible for the upgrade of the Samuel Ladoke Akintola airport in Alakia, Ibadan. In this interview, he speaks with SHOLA ADEKOLA on the move by Governor Seyi Makinde to clear the way for the upgrade
WHAT next after the foundation laying stone of the Samuel Ladoke Akintola upgrade?
What happened was that September 18, 2024 was the groundbreaking for the upgrade of the airport in its entirety and that signaled the start of phase one, so phase one was the extension of the runway from 2,400 to 3,000 meters as the length of the runway and the expansion of the width, the shoulder of the runway from 45 meters to 60 meters, that is 7.5 meters on either side of the runway is by the expansion and that is phase one which also included the apron, the apron was 5,400 square meters, that makes it 14,000 square meters and it also include the upgrade of the airfield lighting to Category two standard and that’s phase one and of course there will a brand new Instrument Landing (ILS) promised by the federal government to the upgraded airport, so phase one started on that day of the groundbreaking and work has commenced and on this one that we just did (last week) signaled the second phase which is the construction of the international airport terminal. The construction that started on January 21 was the beginning of the construction of the international terminal and also the fire service bay was included too to be upgraded to international. So there is no next phase, it’s an ongoing work, but it’s second phase, the terminal work that has just started and there are other ancillary works like the car park, which will be upgraded also, before, its capacity was 100,000 passengers per annum but it will now be upgraded to 1 million passengers.
How can you generate this large number in view of the proximity of Ibadan to Lagos airport?
That’s where we are now, we have studied this before when the airport project started, it was demand driven and product driven, demand driven in the sense that there is already a demand, the Lagos airport you mentioned, is already crowded and the aircraft there is spilling over and in terms of proximity, when you are flying into Nigeria from may be America, Europe, you know you will pass through ibadan to Lagos airport, so it will be convenient for some aircraft to fly and land in Ibadan, and to make ibadan airport a bit more attractive, we are proposing other things like a Maintenance Repair and Overhaul (MRO) hangar facility where aircraft can fly into for maintenance overhaul and at a time we were proposing that we should have a cargo facility and hajj operations as well. If you look at hajj operations annually, the crowd is heavy, we can get passengers from Osun, from Ilorin from Ondo so instead of going to Lagos its very convenient for you .
If ibadan airport was not viable as a domestic airport, how would it be viable when is upgraded to an international standard?
ibadan airport is one of the six airports that are viable in Nigeria, ibadan of all the regional capitals, its only ibadan that does not have international airport, every other regional capitals have international airports and if you look at the status of ibadan in the comity of states in Nigeria, as the capital of the old western region, there is no better time to have an international airport than now, the airport is not a new conception, many governors in the past had conceived of it and in fact it even passed through Senate before for executive motion but nobody was able to bring it to fruition like we are doing now. You are saying that there is no viability, for Ibadan to appear on the map is such a big city, for a colossal side of ibadan in West Africa and the world it needs an international airport to be able to make it one of the places you can reckon with. Like I said, Lagos is bursting, there are so many things Lagos is not capturing that we hope to capture and so many technicalities that I don’t want to go into which you may know as aviation journalist. So Lagos is self known, you are talking about a domestic airport that is not viable, even at that, there is nothing stopping an international airport of ibadan to be there , like I said its demand driven,studies have been carried out. Many of the airlines can make ibadan airport a hub, its easier for them to do that because cost of production is cheaper in ibadan and ibadan is a gateway. Lagos is a final destination, everybody comes in and stops there. At ibadan so much activities are happening here, like so many people coming from off countries don’t need to get to Lagos.
Read Also: Reps pass tax reforms bills through second reading
How do you intend to woo foreign airlines in particular to the airport amidst cases of insecurity and bad roads?
What do you mean by insecurity? Firstly, I want you to know that in the anticipation of bigger aircraft and increased capacity, there is already an aviation fuel terminal that is set up by Bovas Petroleum, an indigenous oil company in ibadan so they have aviation fuel terminal within the airport, so that one will be an attraction to airlines that want to refuel, do their repairs, stop over in ibadan. On the security you mentioned, ibadan is one of the safest states in Nigeria, its very very safe. We have had no major incidents of insecurity in the recent years. The hustling and buzzing in Lagos is very good for commerce, ibadan airport is going to be a dedicated international airport for travels for foreign airlines, but with the presence of MRO hangar and aviation fuel terminal within ibadan airport, these will help draw foreign Airlines to ibadan international airport. Rwanda airport for example, as it is now, the international airport they are using presently, was sponsored and built by government of Rwanda, there is much to earn at that airport and the capacity is growing up daily. Do you know that another new airport there is sponsored by Qatar Airways and they are going to use that as a regional hub. So if a country that was at war less than twenty years ago, if they are saying we are small, we are at war, the airport is not viable and they did not make any move, may be they would have never gotten to the dynamic stage they are in now. One thing is when airport is built up to international standard, and an airline sees that the terminal is big enough, the apron is big enough, the processing of passengers is good enough and facility to dress for their cabin crew is good enough, transport link is good enough and safety is good enough and other facilities are available, it becomes attractive. The roads in ibadan are being upgraded, security is very tight, we have a dedicated security outfit, Amotekun in place, all these will cut short passengers travel time, even if is by fifty minutes, if you are traveling to Nigeria and you know you can land in ibadan, why do you want to go to Lagos when you can land in ibadan maintain your aircraft, refuel and fly out of Ibadan. Those are the things we have put into consideration. Its a demand driven by research We have an aviation consultancy that helped in conceptualising this project and this consultancy is being headed by the former Managing Director of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria ( FAAN), Alhaji Kabiru Mohammed, we have Dr Wale Babalakin who has been involved in aviation for many years, we have a lot of professionals that are directly or indirectly engaged in the airport upgrade. A lot of interests are waiting to see things happen and they want to partner with us to make it happen.
