The abandoned Aminu Kano International Airport

Under the remodelling programme, MAKIA’s terminal building was completed and commissioned with some measure of fanfare some months ago in a ceremony at which CBN Governor Sanusi Lamido Sanusi represented President Goodluck Jonathan. The impression created by the elaborate ceremony was that a vastly improved and more functional MAKIA was now available for public use.Sadly, […]

Under the remodelling programme, MAKIA’s terminal building was completed and commissioned with some measure of fanfare some months ago in a ceremony at which CBN Governor Sanusi Lamido Sanusi represented President Goodluck Jonathan. The impression created by the elaborate ceremony was that a vastly improved and more functional MAKIA was now available for public use.
Sadly, since that elaborate commissioning, the airport has not been put to use because of the absence of handling and other facilities that are very vital to the operations of this airport. Why was the civil engineering work done on the terminal building commissioned in such a grand manner when the authorities were fully aware that other things needed to make the airport receive flights were not yet in place? This has expectedly provoked the cries of users of this airport and other stakeholders. The Kano Chamber of Commerce (KCC), some of whose members are the worst hurt by the non-functioning of MAKIA, has, in frustration, described the airport as nothing better than a white elephant project. We cannot but agree with the KCC’s description of MAKIA in its present state because the multi-billion naira facility cannot serve the purpose for which it was built nor justify its refurbishment with billions of naira.
This is not good enough. The inability or unwillingness to provide what it takes to make the airport fully functional does not make sense. Before its fortunes nosedived in the 1990s, MAKIA was the second busiest airport in Nigeria, second only to the Murtala Mohammed International Airport in Lagos. At that time, more than half of all international flights into Nigeria chose MAKIA as either the final destination or a transit point or stopover field. Travellers and traders from especially the northern part of the country preferred that airport because Kano is at the heart of northern commerce. The coming of the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport in Abuja and the upgrade of the nearby Kaduna Airport may have taken some of the shine off MAKIA but its critical role has not been diminished. For an airport of such great importance to the economy of the country to be allowed to become redundant is to say the least unwise.
What is more, so much money has already been spent on its refurbishment. It certainly does not make sense to invest billions of naira on a project and leave it half way. That is as good as having done nothing. It is reasonable therefore to expect that whatever it will take to make the airport fully usable should be done as quickly as possible so that the nation can begin to enjoy the dividends of the gargantuan investment on it. At a time when the nation is facing severe security challenges principally because there are too many idle hands ready to be recruited for ignoble purposes there can be no good enough excuses to justify the abandonment of an economic facility that can provide means of livelihood for thousands of people.
Because of its strategic location, many domestic and foreign airlines are desirous of using the MAKIA. This administration and previous ones have always harped on the idea of transforming Nigeria into the aviation hub of West African sub-region. Such a dream cannot be realised if a vital air hub like MAKIA is abandoned when a little more effort can get it fully completed and open to use.