What do we have against MAKIA?

As the controversy continues, about whether or not Kaduna airport can adequately take the place of Abuja’s Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, while the latter undergoes necessary renovation, I can’t help wondering why it has to be Kaduna and nowhere else.  I mean some international airlines are already saying they will not be able to land […]

As the controversy continues, about whether or not Kaduna airport can adequately take the place of Abuja’s Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, while the latter undergoes necessary renovation, I can’t help wondering why it has to be Kaduna and nowhere else. 

I mean some international airlines are already saying they will not be able to land there due to inadequate facilities, while the government is busy assuring them that all will be in place before the closure of Abuja airport; but do we need to go through all this stress if an alternative airport is within reach?

Here I am talking about Malam Aminu Kano International Airport (MAKIA) situated in Kano, a tried and tested airport which has been an international route for several decades. Why can’t we divert all Abuja flights to Kano during the period of the renovation, since even now the Airport hosts international flights on a daily basis? 

Even if Kano airport were to need some repairs to enable it accommodate Abuja flights, it will certainly not reach the extent to which Kaduna airport needs it, because in Kaduna a total upgrade of facilities is needed to meet international standards. 

I’m sure that a lot of reasoning and consideration had gone into deciding that Kaduna should be the choice, but if reputable air carriers are rejecting it for their own reasons and even opting to cancel their Abuja route for the six weeks that the renovation will last, then shouldn’t we sincerely re-think the Kaduna alternative?

Latest news reports say that South African Airways has written the Aviation minister announcing the cancellation of all their Abuja flights from early March to mid-April, when the renovation will be concluded. A similar decision is said to be expected from British Airways, Air France, KLM and Lufthansa. Now, if all this protest is because they don’t want to land in substandard Kaduna airport, why waste so much money renovating it when a fraction of that mount can be used to make MAKIA more habitable to international travellers? 

I had no idea Kano airport has such a long history of being an international hub, until my German neighbour, in South Africa, way back in 1995 told me that she had been to Kano in 1952. The 84 year old German lady was the friendliest of our neighbours, at the Summerfield estate in Sandown, Johannesburg, where we lived then. 

As the only Black couple in the whole of the estate, we naturally elicited a lot curiosity. But we kept pretty much to ourselves and socialised only with our friends and compatriots from other parts of the city. We however shared greetings with our White neighbours whenever we ran into them at the carports or on walkways.

This old German lady however went a little beyond that and made sure she stood by my kitchen window for a little gist, every time she passed by and saw me there. It was on one such gist sessions that she asked where I had been that she hadn’t seen me at my window for several days. I told her that I had been to the hospital to have a baby. She couldn’t believe my news and immediately asked if she could come in and see her. I opened the door and let her in and the old German was full of compliments for my ‘adorable angel’ as she called my daughter. Of course she made sure that everyone in the estate had learnt that the ‘Blacks’ were now three. That was the first time she came into our cute little town house. 

The second time was to show me the pictures she took at the Kano Airport where she flew in through The Flying Dutchman, an aircraft which was the precursor to the present KLM. The small black and white photos were surprisingly sharp and showed not only the aircraft and passengers standing around before boarding but also showed local  people with items of traditional arts and craft, on display on the floor of the airport. I believe there were no shops at the airport at that point in time. 

In fact it was the site of those men in Babarriga, seated before their wares, very much the way tomato sellers in our local markets, sit and mind their goods, that convinced me those pictures were indeed from Kano airport. The nice German lady offered to let me keep them, and  I wish I can find where I kept them now. 

Anyway, the point of this trip down memory lane is to show that Aminu Kano International airport has been a comfortable host for flights and travellers, for the better part of a century. It is therefore the natural choice to stand in for Abuja Airport, from March 6th to April 18th, unless we want to incur unnecessary losses, all round, due to our insistence on using Kaduna airport. And why this insistence? Does anyone have anything against MAKIA?