History was made on Saturday when the first aircraft touched down at the newly constructed Ekiti Cargo Airport along Ado-Ijan road, Ado-Ekiti, the state capital.
The inaugural landing of the aircraft was witnessed by a jubilant crowd and other dignitaries, including Governor Kayode Fayemi; Minister of Trade, Industry and Investment, Niyi Adebayo; Ekiti Speaker Funminiyi Afuye, his deputy, Hakeem Jamiu and other top government officials.
The flight with registration number NAF 930 belonging to the Nigerian Air Force landed the airport around 10:20 am with the Minister of Aviation, Hadi Sirika and officials of the ministry on board.
Fayemi was elated at the aircraft landing and construction of the airport in record time.
The outgoing Governor, who described the airport as a dream come true for Ekiti people, said the facility would boost the socio-economic growth and development of the State..
He added that the project, which began in 2019, was geared towards unlocking the vast potentials inherent in Ekiti to attract investors, provide easy transportation of agricultural produces, job opportunities and open Ekiti for rapid development.
Fayemi said that the inauguration of the airport was in fulfillment of his promise to continue to work for the people of the state who elected him to his very last day in office saying the project saw the light of the day despite the very limited resources available to the state.
He noted that his administration defied the challenges of the COVID-19 which adversely affected global, national and state economies to ensure that the dream of the airport became a reality which culminated in the test landing of the first flight on his last day in office.
Going down the memory lane, the Governor recalled that the move to start the project began during his first tenure in 2012 with a Committee on the Viability of the Airport led by legal luminary, Aare Babalola, raised by his then administration noting that the Committee submitted its report in 2012.
According to him, his first administration through the State Executive Council considered and approved the report submitted which was accommodated in the its plan for 2013-2015 Medium Term Sector Strategy but the plan was halted by his exit from office after the 2014 governorship election which placed the project on suspension.
The Governor said his successor in office, Ayo Fayose, embraced the idea to continue with the project but it couldn’t see the light of the day until the tenure ended in 2018.
He said further: “Upon my assumption of office in 2018, I appointed aviation experts and industry related officials to kickstart the implementation of the project. They made several Advocate visits to communities in order to meet the requirements for the establishment of the airport.
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“The administration took the following steps: we secured the approval, the revalidation of approval from the Federal Ministry of Aviation. We also secured the Department of State Services (DSS) clearance, we paid all the necessary fees for the construction, planning and certification to the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority and conducting Environmental and Sustainability Impact Assessment.
“As a government that adheres strictly to the rule of law with unwavering respect for the rights of our people, we made several appeals to communities affected for enumeration of their farmlands to ensure commensurate monetary compensation is paid on their crops.
“To this end, a total of 669 claimants were duly compensated out of those that presented themselves for the exercise. We acquired 4,017 hectares of land from nine communities: Ago Aduloju, Aso Ayegunle, Bolorunduro, Igbogun, Araromi, Obbo, Afao, Orun, Igbemo and Ijan covering three local government areas in the state.”
Aviation Minister Sirika also announced to the excited audience that the Federal Government would site a cargo facility at the airport. He described the Ekiti Airport as “an extremely very important project” which would turn facilitate import and export of goods and commodities.
Senator Sirika recalled that when he was on the site for groundbreaking in October 2019, there were divergent views as to the viability of the project noting that airports are being used by what he called “one-city nation-states in the world” to drive their economy.
He added: “I use to make an assertion, thay one mile long road leads to nowhere but one mile runway leads to everywhere. You see, I came here today through the runway of this airport provided by Governor Fayemi. There is future with this project, market and trade can drive everybody here.
“I was at ABUAD, I saw the university,t he farm, the industrial park and the hospital. If there is an airport here, it will connect people to this facility and reduce foreign medical tourism. Airports are by no means the best catalysts for economic growth of any state or nation.
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“35 per cent of global trade by value is moved through airports and $18.6 billion of cargo is moved daily through air transportation. The wealthy among you should take to agriculture for example and begin to produce things that you will export to other parts of the world.
“You can be land-locked but you cannot be sky-locked. We can all see the importance of having a facility like this. Thank you Mr Governor, you have provided this facility for the people of Ekiti State; they should own it, they should own it.”
In his welcome address, Mr. Zhang Zichen, the Chairman of China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation (CCECC), which handled the project, praised Governor Fayemi for the vision which he said would change the face of the state economy.
Mr. Zichen explained that the airport is not just a project but “the engine of the economy of the state” said it would open up Ekiti to more development and investment to the benefit of the state and business community.
The CCECC boss who also described the airport as a “landmark project” said it was among notable projects completed by its corporation. He also hailed the Aviation Minister for being part of history and making the airport a reality.
