TheCable

Nwobi Ifeajiagwu, a Port Harcourt-based businessman, says even if he has a contract worth N1 billion, he will not travel through Kaduna International Airport.

Speaking with TheCable at Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, on Wednesday, Ifeajiagwu faulted the decision of the federal government to shut the airport in the nation’s capital.

The government closed the facility to enable it carry out repairs, and arrangements were made for flights to be diverted to Kaduna.

But Ifeajiagwu said those behind the closure of the airport have an ulterior motive.

“I came here from Port Harcourt and I am going back today. Even for a one billion naira contract, I won’t fly to Kaduna to get to Abuja. I will rather come by road. It is a bad decision on the part of the federal government to close the airport,” he said.

Departure wing of the airport

“This is our capital airport. The money they are going to use for relocation of flights to Kaduna should have been used to expand the runaway instead of closing it down totally for six weeks.

“I don’t think they actually considered the business impact. How about the taxi drivers, the people that work at the airport, what are they going to do?

“I just think it’s a ploy to empower Kaduna state. That’s just a ruse. If we have one, we should have been thinking about getting two or three.

“They’ve been in government for two years now, they should have planned for that. So, you can’t blame the last government, you should have planned ahead.

Where are the passengers?

“I never heard about closing any International airport of the capital of a country in the world before just to do runway maintenance but this is what we are about to do in Nigeria. It’s absurd.”

Ifeajiagwu is not alone, many who generate income from the airport also expressed displeasure.

Ebere Iheanachor, a supervisor at Things Remembered, an eatery inside the departure wing of the airport, told TheCable: “We are definitely going to lose lot of cash during the closure of the airport. There’s nothing we can do about this.

“But I am sure that we will still bounce back after the six weeks closure.”

Mohammed Issa, a taxi driver, said the days ahead would be tough.

“I am not happy at all. When the federal government first made the announcement of the closure, I fell sick because this cab business is my only business,” he said.

Only three aircraft at the tarmac

“How do I survive? How do I support my family? We have about 850 cabs at the airport and business has never been the same for a while now.

“And now, six weeks shut down of the airport means no more work for my colleagues and I.

“How do we now cope? The government never considered us at all. We don’t have any ATM anywhere.

“My ATM is the airport taxi that I drive. We will suffer till the airport is reopened.”

But Hope Ivbaze, public relations manager of the airport, defended the action of the government.

She said the ministry of aviation had already put in place measures to prevent passengers from incurring additional cost as a result of transportation.

Screening point of Immigration officials empty

“The ministry has already made arrangements with Chisco Transport Company to take passengers from Kaduna to Abuja for free,” she told TheCable.

“And again, the airport will not be closed down. It is the runway that would be closed for repairs. We are still going to be here, coming to work everyday.

“We need to know what’s going, I mean the work progress. We are stakeholders who need to monitor what’s going on.

“It is expected that lots of businesses will be affected. Whatever adjustment we need to get done, we will get it done.

“The near to nothing turnout at the airport today is expected because of the shut down.”