I‘m a Beneficiary of Buhari’s Love for Ndigbo
The Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of Air Peace, Allen Onyema, recently interacted with reporters after touring ongoing cargo airport at Umuleri, Anambra State. He weighed the potentials of the airport, saying contrary to the views that President Muhammadu Buhari is ill-disposed to the people of South-east, the administration has indeed helped his business in so many way. Olaoluwakitan Babatunde was there
Governor Wille Obiano is putting together this massive cargo airport project at Umuleri.You have visited that site.What is your impression?
All this while, sitting in Lagos, I was hearing about Anambra State Airport project. The State Government had previously called on me to come and see the place, and I hadn’t been there. But yesterday I was privileged to visit the Airport. I felt proud to be called an Anambra son. Honestly, I never knew that level of work had been put in there. The runway is almost ready. And it is a lot of work because of the topography of the place and the nature of the soil. But they are doing a lot.
Every infrastructure that will make an airport of international standard is there. They are doing everything; taking care of all those complains we used to have in Nigeria hitherto. There are plans to do runway lightings of the highest grade. There are plans to install the instrument landing system that will be top notch, so that pilots can come in and land blindly even at zero visibility. So, and these are what we are yearning for.
That Airport, to the best of my knowledge, and by God’s grace, if everything pulls through the way they are planning it and the way they are going, it might end up being the best airport in the entire African region; not just Nigeria, because what I saw; everything has been provided for. There are places for cargo. There are places for passengers; everything. And the spacing gives room for more development. And that is what you need in an airport. The runway is one of the longest in Africa; 3.7km. That is the runway that can land 777 (aircraft), Airbus380 and others.
As a big player in the industry, tell us the value chain benefits for Anambra State, South-east?
Let me say something: when you go to a place like United
States, for instance, you will see airports dotted all over the place. You see, aviation is catalyst for economic development, and until we begin to realize that it is not elitist, then we will never have it going well with us. It is a catalyst for economic development.
If that Airport comes on stream, tens of thousands of jobs will be created. And I know the Igbo spirit of the people, the Anambra man, in doing business. They will want to fly to China from there. They will want to go to every part of the world from there. It will help Nigeria, not just the South East. It will help the entire country because of the industry of the people. People should not be scared to allow development go to other places. And I thank God for President Muhammadu Buhari. It is very untrue that he does not like the Igbos. Without me being a member of his party or any party, I am a beneficiary of his support for indigenous businesses, but people don’t know. People believe what they read out there. The Federal Government, President Buhari, through his Minister of Aviation, Hadi Sirika, has given me China, London, Portugal destinations and the entire Europe.
I am an Igbo man; he has even given me Jedda. I am not a Muslim, but they have given me Jedda. They have given me U.S., India, and etcetera. So, the government has given me about twenty designations to fly to. I am Igbo man. It is not true that President Buhari doesn’t like Igbos. The President wants equal economic development for every part. And this President, for sure, I will tell you categorically that when the time comes, he will give his assent to this Airport to be a full blown international airport.
What special use will Air Peace put the Anambra Airport to?
I was impatient with governor Obiano. I asked him right there, where is my space? Because, to be honest with you, I want to be able to build a maintenance hanger for aircraft coming from all over the world. If they showed me the space, Air Peace can come and do it. So, I am ready to start building the maintenance hanger so that by the time the Airport is being opened, it will be ready.