Yobe and the need for cargo airport

Three weeks ago, the Yobe State Executive Council approved N11, 327, 120, 487.24 for the construction of Yobe’s brand new cargo airport in Damaturu.

As news percolate about the development, opinion began to vary about the need for and propriety of having an airport in Yobe now. While many have welcomed the establishment of the first airport in the state from the standpoint of its economic and revenue-generation significance, others have described it as needless. For these people, an airport in Yobe is a misplaced priority.

I hold a different opinion. In my considered view, the establishment of the cargo airport at this stage of Yobe’s socio-economic development is perfectly warranted and within the ambit of a longterm development strategy. I would argue that an objective assessment would show that the airport’s economic impact and potential to further develop Yobe State and the country’s north-eastern region are possibilities that should be explored and exploited.

It is a known fact that many a businessman in Borno, Yobe, Adamawa and Bauchi States who is into export of agricultural and other commodities use Lagos airports and seaport to export those products and commodities. In addition, many business people, including traders and wholesalers, use heavy duty trucks to transport their wares from Lagos, Port Harcourt, Aba, Onitsha, etc. to Yobe, Borno and other parts of the northeast.

In addition to costs for transportation, which are humongous, there is so much loss in time wasted and even in the freshness of some of the products when they took a week or even more to be transported to Damaturu, say, from Lagos.

In the wake of the devastating Boko Haram crisis, which has decimated the economies of the states in the northeast, the need to fast track transportation and business transactions become even more poignant.

The reasons are clear. Governments in the region must take the lead by stimulating and incentivising the process and by making the long-term investments necessary to ensure that the recovery from Boko Haram devastations are not only short term but more importantly for the long haul.

This is where the Yobe cargo airport comes in.

If equipped with cold chain and other storage facilities that could hold goods in good condition until cleared for onward transportation across the nooks and crannies of the state and the region, the cargo airport can stimulate economic activity by making large scale movement of goods and service much easier and more cost-effective.

Business people who bring in goods, often at the risk of damage to the goods through long haul land transportation, can now leverage the cargo airport and bring in their products and services and then use short-span land transport to move them to local areas. In the import market, goods that have high prices caused by double transportation costs can now meet the end users at relatively cheaper prices and reach the markets much more conveniently.

Those who opposed establishing the airport tend to suggest that it’s better to invest the money for the construction of the cargo airport to the rehabilitation and reconstruction of dilapidated companies owned by the state government across the state. I will not say there is no need for that but to be sincere, with the cargo airport, more investors will be attracted to the state and I am very optimistic that redevelopment will reach those companies and the machines needed for their operations could be easily secured.

Plus, the Yobe State Government under Government Ibrahim Gaidam has not neglected those other areas that opponents of the airport have highlighted.

In education, for example, the Gaidam administration has paid - and continues to pay - more student scholarships than most of the states in the northeast combined. Little wonder that the national association of Yobe students (NUYOSS) recently conferred Gaidam with an award of excellence for staying true to his commitment to Yobe students both within and outside the country. The Gaidam administration is also investing heavily in retooling and reconstructing schools across the state to make them more conducive for teaching and learning.

It is also a known fact that no administration in Yobe had turned around the state’s healthcare sector like the Gaidam administration has done.

At a time that some states across the country were unable to pay workers’ salaries even with the bailout funds provided by the federal government, Yobe State Government is able to meet all its commitments to its workers, including regular salary payments, pensions and gratuities and is also able to go beyond that to finance capital and human development projects without taking a loan from any financial institution.

It is true that we still have work to do to improve education and healthcare but there is no question that the progress so far is a testament to the level of prudent financial management on the part of the Gaidam administration which instantiates the ongoing possibilities where the government is executing projects in healthcare, roads, education, water supply and the construction of the cargo airport and at the same time investing in the security of life and property of the people of the state.

So, the Gaidam administration deserves a thumb up for all it is doing currently and for going ahead to think long term by establishing an airport in the state. As a long-term prospect, the benefits of the cargo airport will be seen over the long-term, long after the Gaidam administration had completed its term in office.

Posterity will bear the Gaidam administration out that when a decision has had to be made regarding the long term economic prosperity of the state, Governor Gaidam had summoned the courage and made the investment that will pay off for many years to come.

Bakabe, who hails from Nguru, Yobe State is a student of St. Laurence University, Kampala, Uganda. He can be reached at ybakabe4real@gmail.com