Dave Umahi N53 billion Ebonyi Airport decays & remains idle over a year after flamboyant inauguration by Buhari

June 19, 2024, marks the 390th day since the Chuba Okadigbo International Airport in Abakaliki, Ebonyi State, was opened by former President Muhammadu Buhari on May 26, 2023.

Notably, the airport had a soft launch on April 26, 2023, when former Governor David Umahi oversaw the landing of two inaugural Air Peace flights on the airport’s runway, ahead of its official inauguration.

The inauguration ceremony was a grand affair, marked by festive splendor and grandeur. In attendance were high-ranking officials from both federal and state governments, as well as esteemed dignitaries from across the nation, all gathered to witness the momentous occasion, reports SaharaReporters.

However, despite the fanfare and the billions of naira spent on the airport, it has yet to take off.

During the inauguration, former Ebonyi governor and current Minister of Works, David Umahi promised that the project would bring prosperity and boost the state’s economy.

However, nearly a year and a month later, the airport has yet to generate any revenue for the state government, which urgently needs funds to implement its development plans.

To make matters worse, shortly after the inauguration, reports emerged that the airport’s runway had developed defects, leading to a boycott by airlines, which have largely avoided landing at the airport.

Besides the runway issues, the airport, which was operating without a functional radar system despite the massive investment of N36 billion in its construction, was eventually closed down for renovations.

This was a surprising turn of events, given the significant funds borrowed to build the airport.

According to the new governor of Ebonyi State, Francis Nwifuru, the Federal Ministry of Aviation had suggested overlaying the concrete runway with asphalt to address the defects, following the state government’s unsuccessful attempts to rectify the issues through engineering solutions.

The ministry’s recommendation comes after the concrete runway, built using cutting-edge technology, developed problems that couldn’t be resolved by the state’s efforts.

Although the airport had not seen any commercial air traffic, except for a single, specially arranged flight by the current governor, Nwifuru, the administration had invested an additional N17.3 billion in the airport, bringing the total expenditure to N53 billion.

This significant investment has yet to yield any tangible returns, as the airport remains idle.

“A governor called me and we discussed at length on the approval of N13.75 billion for the airport that is deemed to have been completed and handed over,” the governor once said.

“The question that the governor asked me is the question every reasonable Ebonyi man is asking. The truth is that the mindset of those that started the airport was germane; but did we get it right? In the area of runway, we didn’t get it right because the runway is jumping and it is destroying aircraft tyres. Initially, we thought the problem was caused by the expansion joints.

“That’s what we believed initially and we said, okay, let us close all the expansion joints and know why it is jumping but it is still jumping and it has spoiled a lot of aircraft and that is why many airlines have refused to land there.

“And for us to get it right, we approached the Federal Ministry of Aviation and asked them what we can do. They told us that we need to do certification, put thyroids and start laying asphalt. I said wow, we are into trouble. When you look at the amount that was sunk into that airport, it is not something you get up and say you want to abandon.”

The governor acknowledged that the state government has invested a substantial amount of money in the airport, and despite the defects in its construction, it cannot afford to write off the project and abandon it.

Nwifuru said, “The former administration sunk N42 billion into that edifice. It is one of the best, biggest and largest airports in the country. I said how to make a mark is doing something very difficult or challenging.

“We have been confronted with a lot of challenge on this matter and we must do something and get it right because our people’s money has been spent on the project and we must get the project right by putting what is right and what everybody wants.

“This is why we engaged so many contractors including CCECC, Julius Berger and so others to give us their quotations.

“Some gave N14 billion, some gave N15 billion, some gave N11 billion and N10 billion depending on what they do. But we looked at their schedules and the needs of the Ministry of Aviation. We didn’t just venture into the rehabilitation of the airport just to spend money but to make use of the value of our money that has been spent on that project.”

Speaking recently during his first anniversary in office, Governor Nwifuru announced that his administration had spent N17.3 billion on remedial work on the airport runway.

According to him, “the remedial work at the Chuba Okadigbo International Airport runway has been completed.

“N17.3 billion was spent, while major repairs in the terminal building and control tower have commenced in earnest and in advanced stage. To this end, flight operations will commence fully at the airport,” the governor said.

The staggering sum of N53 billion in borrowed funds was expended on the airport, despite the prevalent poverty and scarcity of basic amenities in Ebonyi State.

Many communities in the state, such as Obeagu and Nkalaha, which share borders with Enugu State, lack access roads, leaving them vulnerable to frequent attacks by armed herdsmen. The deplorable state of the roads has resulted in the loss of numerous lives, both from the communities and elsewhere, highlighting the stark contrast between the airport’s lavish funding and the pressing needs of the local population.

According to the National Bureau of Statistics, Ebonyi State ranks among the top 10 poorest states in Nigeria, with a staggering poverty rate of 79.76%, indicating that nearly 80% of the state’s population lives below the poverty line.

Also, according to the Debt Management Office’s sub-national debt report as of December 2022, Ebonyi State’s outstanding debt stood at N76.5 billion in local currency and $58.57 million in foreign debt, highlighting the state’s significant debt burden.

The distance between Ebonyi airport and Enugu airport is merely a 10-minute flight, yet the former governor and current administration opted to invest a staggering N53 billion in an airport that lacks commercial viability for airlines and fails to generate economic benefits for Ebonyi State and its citizens, raising questions about the wisdom of this extravagant expenditure.

A former Commissioner for Information in the state, Chief Abia Onyike, called for Umahi’s probe for embarking on many projects without due process and approval by relevant authorities.

The former Commissioner slammed the airport project as a ‘highly inflated’ contract and demanded the resignation of Umahi as Minister of Works, revealing that Umahi had publicly boasted of spending N36 billion on the airport during its inauguration, a claim that has now come under scrutiny.

“But later on, we gathered rightly from the present administration that he actually spent the sum of N43 billion and not N36 billion that he claimed.

“Now when you compared the N43 billion Umahi spent on the airport with the N6 billion that was spent by the former governor of Anambra State, Chief Willie Obiano, and that Anambra airport is functional right now as we speak.

“They have set aside the sum of N4 billion to do some refurbishment maybe the current administration will do it and you remember that the airport is functional and it was named after Chinua Achebe. But unfortunately, that of Ebonyi where Umahi spent N43 billion, that airport is not functional. Why? Because the tarmac of the airport failed and it has to require a reconstruction for it to start working.

“We gathered that the new administration in Ebonyi State is going to spent an upward of about N17.7 billion or so. What we were told initially was N13 billion. So now Umahi should resign as a Minister of Works because he has so many questions bordering on financial a impropriety in Ebonyi State,” the former commissioner said.

According to Onyike, Umahi has been actively seeking a court order to prevent the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) from investigating his administration, suggesting that he may be trying to avoid accountability for his actions while in office.

“He has so many petitions against him with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), and he has been indulging. He ran a very-very corrupt administration in Ebonyi State.

“He is not worthy of any office either at the state level or at the federal level because for being such a very corrupt public official,” he said.

He called on the federal government to constitute a “judicial panel of inquiry and also an administrative panel of inquiry to unravel the mystery behind the way and manner Umahi ran a callous and a lawless administration in Ebonyi State”.

“Schools in Ebonyi State under his administration were regarded as poultry farms because there were no facilities for people in primary and secondary schools and he never interested in the health sector, he never invested in area of supplying drinking water even though N3 billion was being taken by him every year yet no public water supply was available to Ebonyi citizens. What kind of criminal administration is that,” he lamented.

Also speaking, former spokesman for the apex Igbo socio-cultural organisation, Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Barr. Uche Achi-Okpaga expressed support for the current administration to do everything possible to put the airport to full use, arguing that if not, the billions of naira the former administration borrowed and sunk there would be a waste.

Achi-Okpaga said, “That international airport is super structure that cannot just be abandoned like that. It was inherited from the former administration and the best the present governor could do is to do all his best to put that airport in shape otherwise all the resources that have been put in there will lie waste.

“And if you don’t put that airport to use it will begin to dilapidate. People will begin to vandalize it – that means the resources of Ebonyi is being flushed into the river.

“So I like what the governor is doing because some other person could have abandoned it looking at the humongous amount that is going in.

“Any person could have abandoned it but he thought it wise to make sure that he completes the airport so that it will be put to use, and when it is put to use of course there is no way that revenue will not be trickling in.

“And it will also aid air transport, it will also put the state in the international map – a lot of advantages will come in from that airport.

“I want to identify with the governor in trying to make sure that the airport is put into full use because the airport was already there when he came in. It is not functioning so what do you do? It is not a makeshift thing that you will say let’s dismantle it.

“It has come to stay, the structures are there so the best thing you can do is to put it to use.”

We Can’t Allow Investment Go To Waste – Commissioner

In response to inquiries from SaharaReporters, the State Commissioner for Information and Orientation, Mr. Jude Okpor, clarified that the airport has not been abandoned, assuring that the current administration is committed to ensuring that the significant investment in the airport does not go to waste.

He explained that the only problem with the airport was the runway, adding that the airport had been inaugurated and flight operations had commenced “but it got to a point – the runway was built on concrete technology, a lot of politicking started going on to the extent that the state government was blackmailed, to the extent that some airline operators started complaining that each time they come to the airport because of the concrete surface, their tyre and the hydraulic system – their suspensions always have problem”.

He continued, “It got to the point that even the regulatory agencies, Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NACA) and the rest of them had to step in and the government had no option but to start making an arrangement of laying asphalt on the runway.

“So, the bidding process and award of contract was initially at the level of over N13 billion. …And as I talk with you that asphalting is concluded. That airport runway is one of the longest single runways in the country today because it is 35 kilometres long and 75 metres wide, which means two aircraft like two private jets can land on that airport runway at the same time comfortably.

“You can now know why it took government almost a year to put asphalt and change the runway from concrete technology to the globally accepted asphalt.”

“The airport is not abandoned. The current administration cannot abandon the huge resources that had been committed in that airport because of that little setback. The airport is in top gear and we expected that soon the president will come to commission the runway and reopen the airport for commercial activities,” the commissioner added.

On why the project gulped an additional N17.7 billion at the end of the day, the commissioner blamed it on the economic situation resulting from the naira devaluation.”There was contract variation which was done at the middle of the contract as a result of foreign exchange. Most of the materials, especially the bitumen were imported,” he said.