The former governor of Akwa Ibom State, Obong Victor Attah, has raised the alarm over the continued absence of landing lights at the Victor Attah International Airport in Uyo.
Attah said the situation has resulted in delays in flight operations as flights are often diverted to nearby airports, either in Port Harcourt or Calabar, Cross River State.
He disclosed that during last month’s World Cup Qualifier match between South Africa and Nigeria, the South African squad could not fly directly to Uyo but had to be diverted to the airport in Port Harcourt, Rivers State.
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Recall that many other business travellers have experienced similar inconveniences following the absence of landing lights at the Ibom Airport in Uyo.
The former governor said he suffered tremendously when his flight from Lagos to Uyo, scheduled for 5:30 pm, was cancelled because the runway lights were not working, forcing Uyo airport to operate only daylight flights.
The former governor, who spoke in an interview with selected journalists in Uyo, said he could not understand why an airport should operate without night flights, adding that most airports depended on night flights to generate revenue. “I really cannot understand; this is your main gateway; how can you not make sure it serves its purpose? Night flights are really what most airports depend on.
He also alleged that the inability of successive administrations in Akwa Ibom State to complete the Maintenance, Repair, and Overhaul facility at the Ibom airport, adding that it was a necessary facility for the West African region.
“We started an MRO project supported by all the world’s leading authorities on MRO; it is a necessary facility for the West African subregion; to date, it is not operational, so I do not want to feel that I am criticising anybody.
“I am just wondering, are we saying they are unnecessary, that the concept was wrong, or that they shouldn’t have been prioritised?
“Because I believe they were, and I would have thought that one should have continued with them because those were big things and there are even small things as well, but my worry is, why haven’t these things been done or what have we done instead that is better?”
“It reminds me of those days when we didn’t have mobile telephones in the country; we used to drive to Calabar to make overseas calls, and you could only communicate with countries with the same daylight time as yourself, which was a serious setback.
‘ The former governor, who also expressed disappointment over the inability of the state government to complete the Ibom deep-sea port sixteen years after it was initiated, said he was greatly pained by such failures.
Recall that the International Airport was named after the former governor himself.
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