TheCable

Ben Ayade, governor of Cross River, says the ongoing construction of the airport runway at the Obudu international passenger and cargo airport will be the longest in Nigeria when completed.

Ayade said this during an inspection of the site on Wednesday.

He said the airport, situated close to the iconic Obudu mountain resort, will rank the state as a world tourism destination, adding that the federal government should come and inspect it.

“That is why we are building the airport with 5.6 meters runway, the longest in Nigeria to enable both tourism and business thrive around the Ranch environment with the airport,” Ayade said.

“We started March 2021, and the stage we are now is impressive with major requirements on the ground, and we are almost done in terms of other utilities like the observation tower — which is at the last stage. 

“The firefighting and utility buildings are at the last stage, and the main terminal building is almost completed.

“The cutting of the hard terrain of the airport is by no means a small job, and the federal government should come and look at what we are doing with serious attention.”

The governor lauded Hadi Sirika, minister of aviation, for promising to support the cargo wing of the airport with facilities when functional.

At the inspection, Eric Akpo, senior special adviser on technical matters to the governor, said that the completion target set for April 2022 was feasible.