Hadi Sirika: Enugu airport will be ready before Easter

Hadi Sirika, minister of aviation, says the rehabilitation of Akanu Ibiam International Airport in Enugu state will be completed before Easter.

Easter, an annual celebration which usually holds between March and April, is the time when Christians remember the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

While carrying out inspection at the airport on Thursday, Sirika expressed satisfaction with the level of work done so far.

“I am very satisfied with the level of work. According to programme of work approved by us, we are beating the deadline. Easter is indeed feasible, we are delivering this work before Easter and that is sacrosanct by the grace of God,” he said.

“The contractor is capable enough to deliver this procurement; it is one of the few companies in Nigeria with runway experience. We take this job seriously because we know that Enugu is the centre of South Eastern part of the country. By the time we are done with Enugu, you will be very proud of this airport.”

The minister added that a terminal building will delivered to enhance operations at the airport and that a fence would be constructed because of security.

“On the perimeter fencing, we will fortify our airports including Enugu to deal with the challenge of encroachment. The terminal building is another consideration by the government, special consideration given to Enugu because the loans that we got from the Chinese were meant for Lagos, Abuja, Kano and Port Harcourt,” he said.

“But in the wisdom of government and because of the importance of Enugu, government decided to fund by itself through budget, the Enugu terminal building and we are progressing very well and we will deliver the terminal building.

“The runway will come with other equipment and other systems that will make the runway efficient and effective. The instrument landing system is part of it, the airfield lightings, taxi lights and others will all be part and parcel of what we will deliver in the Enugu runway.”

The Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) had closed the runway of the airport on August 24 after President Muhammadu Buhari approved N10 billion as intervention fund for the project.