The Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo (SAN), has said that he was not happy with the repair work carried out on the runway of the Akanu Ibiam International Airport, Enugu.
The Minister made this known in a statement posted on his official X handle on Saturday after the announcement of the airport’s closure.
The Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria had in the early hours of Saturday announced the closure of the airport for two weeks, beginning from April 22, 2025.
This followed the announcement by Air Peace that it was suspending services to the airport due to the bad runway.
Reacting to the development, Keyamo said on his X handle on Saturday: “Dear compatriots, we have been compelled to take this decision to close the runway of the Akanu Ibiam International Airport, Enugu, for two weeks starting from April 22nd, 2025, in order to carry out major repair works on it.
“We sincerely apologise to Nigerians over this development as the airport is our major international gateway in the Southeastern part of Nigeria.
“It will be recalled that this same development led to the closure of the runway in August 2019 for one whole year and the contract for the total rehabilitation was awarded to a contractor.
Also Read
- How Bala Mohammed threatened to slap me, insulted my father – Minister
- Kogi community thrown into confusion as gunmen storm palace, abduct monarch
- Muslim students commend JAMB Registrar’s transparency, demand sanctions over UTME glitches
- Court remands man, 56, over alleged rape of minor
- Minister opposes creation of more schools, seeks funding for existing ones
“Unfortunately, when we came to office, we discovered that waterlogged part of the runway was not properly constructed to take care of the problem, leading to constant cracks and potholes on the runway.
“These obviously put the lives of the travelling public at great risk.
“We have been carrying out constant palliative works on it, but the problem has not abated and the cracks on the runway are becoming craters.
“I personally visited the airport some months after assuming office and expressed my total displeasure with the work done by the contractor.
“In the meantime, scheduled flight operations to Enugu will be diverted to other neighbouring airports.
“We are going to work tirelessly to meet the timeline in order to mitigate the inconvenience this closure will cause the travelling public.”
Follow The Eagle Online Channel on WhatsApp
