Any state government planning to establish an airport should do due diligence with a view to establishing the viability to avoid the consequences of an ill-thought-out project on its economy and the wellbeing of the people.
There are indications that majority of the airports springing up across the country may end up as white elephant projects when the targeted revenue which is central to their establishment becomes unrealizable and maintenance of the facilities becomes a drain on the public purse.
An analysis of the air passenger traffic in the country,which reveals that many of the 32 airports spread across the geographical zones were probably not ripe for establishment, shows that despite the billions of naira pumped into them, only five airports in Lagos, Abuja, Kano, Port Harcourt and Enugu generate 89.7 per cent while the remaining 10 per cent are shared by the remaining 27 state airports.
Another challenge is poor maintenance of these airports as the majority of the state governments do not have the requisite skills or structures to do so. Some states are said to be passing the maintenance task to the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria , which is still overburdened with maintaining its primary airports across the country.
Priority should be given to agriculture for mass production of food and employment as a way of mitigating the hardship in the country. Only a viable airport can provide employment, and even for a limited number of people among the millions of jobless citizens. A hungry population will be a wrong target for patronage of an airport. Besides airport, any other project that will constitute a drain on the state resources should not be given consideration.
In the words of America’s 26th President, Theodore Roosevelt “the true hero is not the spectator who criticizes but the individual who takes action. Every July 30 marks World Day Against Trafficking in Persons and while this affects both genders, women and girls account for over 70 percent of trafficked victims.
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