The Minister for Aviation, Senator Hadi Sirika on Saturday inaugurated Ekiti State Agro-Allied Passenger International Airport, saying $18.6 billion of cargo is moved daily through air transportation.
Sirika, while performing the inauguration of the airport, ten years after its conception, stated that 35 per cent of global trade by value is moved through airports.
The first airplane, ATR 42 Nigeria Air Force plane piloted by Flight Lieutenant E.A. Balogun landed at the airport’s runway Saturday morning amidst cheers and excitement by the guests who came to witness the historic occasion.
Describing the airport as, “An extremely very important project” the minister who was among the personalities on board of the aeroplane which flew in from Abuja said it would facilitate import and export of goods and commodities.
Sirika who announced that the Federal Government would site a cargo facility at the airport said that airports are being used by what he called “one-city nation-states in the world” to drive their economy.
“I used to make an assertion that a one mile long road leads to nowhere but one mile of runway leads to everywhere. You see, I came here today through the runway of this airport provided by Governor Kayode Fayemi. There is a future with this project, market and trade can drive everybody here”.
In his address the state Governor, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, who could not hide his feeling expressed happiness that the project conceived in 2012 eventually saw the light of the day despite the very limited resources available to the state.
Fayemi said the inauguration of the airport was in fulfillment of his promise to Ekiti people and recalled that the project began during his first tenure in 2012 with a Committee on the Viability of the Airport led by legal luminary, Aare Afe Babalola,
“Upon my assumption of office in 2018, I appointed aviation experts and industry related officials to kick-start the implementation of the project. They made several Advocate visits to communities in order to meet the requirements for the establishment of the airport”.
