This is not the first shutdown at the Akanu Ibiam International airport. In 2019, the facility was closed for a whole year for emergency rehabilitation following similar issues, including cracks and surface failure on the runway.
Festus Keyamo, the Minister of Aviation, linked the recurring problems to poor construction in earlier projects.
“Unfortunately, when we came to office, we discovered that a waterlogged part of the runway was not properly constructed to take care of the problem, leading to constant cracks and potholes,” he said.
He added that palliative repairs had been attempted but the damage had worsened. “The cracks on the runway are becoming craters.”
YEARS OF INVESTMENT, LITTLE DURABILITY
Since 2009, the Federal Government has spent approximately N29 billion — mostly on runway expansion and repairs — on the airport’s infrastructure.
Under the Umaru Musa Yar’Adua administration, N4.13 billion was approved for upgrades to the airport. Those upgrades included lengthening the runway from 2,400 to 3,000 metres and widening it to 60 metres. At the time, flights were rerouted to the Sam Mbakwe Airport in Owerri.
By 2010, the project was revised under President Goodluck Jonathan and the contract was raised to N10 billion to support the airport’s transition to international status.
Although Jonathan, at the commissioning of the airport in 2013, said that another N13 billion would be required to complete the facility, there’s no public record to show if the proposed sum was released or spent as a whole. That same year, a 600-metre extension was reportedly delivered.
But after three years, the facility began to deteriorate. A Senate inspection in 2017 found the runway in “deplorable” condition. Mohammed Adamu, the senator representing Kebbi Central at the time, said that over N9 billion had already been allocated to the terminal between 2015 and 2017.
FAAN eventually carried out phased repairs in December 2017 and early January 2018. The same complaints resurfaced on the floor of the Senate in 2018.
This time stakeholders urged the Federal Ministry of Transportation and other relevant authorities to reconstruct and extend the length of the runway airport as a matter of emergency.
In August 2019, the airport was closed once more. This time, the Federal Government announced that it was conducting a complete renovation.
In October of the same year, Muhammadu Buhari approved the release of a N10 billion Special Intervention Fund for immediate repairs and upgrade of the airport
But that work has not held up.
Source: FIJ