Akure Airport has been in existence for over 30 years, and activities there are now picking up with daily flights to and fro Lagos and Abuja. The Manager of the Airport spearheading this quiet revolution is Mrs Cecilia Oguama. She spoke with KAYODE CROWN in her office on the recent development and other things that need to be done to make the airport better.
Excerpts:
Tell us the history of Akure airport?
The airport has been in existence for 30 years plus, and then for that duration we have been having problems with passengers.
Most airlines that have come have had to cease operations due to lack of patronage, but things have turned around since, let me say 2015, with the erstwhile governor, Olusegun Mimiko who partnered with Overland Airways.
Overland came four, five times in a week, but with the Governor Akeredolu’s administration, he brought in Air Peace, and also partnered with Overland.
We have Air Peace operating Akure from Lagos on daily basis and we have Overland operating Akure-Abuja on daily basis except on Saturdays.
Passengers patronage has increased for both airlines, and we have a new temporary terminal building to ensure that our passengers are comfortable. We have opened the terminal building. And the passengers are now comfortable.
When was it opened?
It was opened in October this year.
What difference has increase in traffic made to your operations and how have you adjusted?
Part of the adjustment is the construction of the new terminal building because we were taking the passengers through the makeshift administrative block, and they had to receive their luggage outside even during the rainy season.
But right now they are comfortable. They receive passengers in the terminal building now and they are well comfortably seated waiting for the flight.
They use to line up to enter but now they just walk into the aircraft. It is now more comfortable for them, and we have been getting a lot of accolades from the passengers for the new structure that is in place.
We have had increased patronage from businesses, apart from the airline, it has impacted on our non aeronautical revenue. We have had more car hire companies coming into Akure.
We have had more people trying to do business with us, e.g. advertising. We have had more people advertising their hotels and all that, coming into the airport. It has opened the airport to a lot of opportunities. In terms of IGR, I think it is better. You know the more passengers you have the more the IGR. IGR is better now.
What are your future plans?
The future plan is to get the cargo terminal operational. If the cargo terminal is really operational, this place will really be turned around.
It will impact positively on the immediate community and the state as a whole. We are looking forward to what the governor will do to ensure that the cargo terminal becomes operational.
We have some interested groups they are still on board, hopefully when the arrangement is concluded, and the terminal becomes operational, Akure will be better for it.
What are the implications of having a cargo terminal?
The state is known for perishable goods. There are farmers, and we see that they transport their produce by road and those things could be exported outside Nigeria and will increase the revenue of the state.
They can harvest the agricultural products, put them in the warehouse and take them outside Nigeria for increase in revenue for the state, and maybe for the country and for the airport too. That is what the terminal will do.
Agriculture will be boosted, transportation will be boosted, because you will see people coming with lorries and containers. It would lead to employment of the youths and it will impact the communities around. A lot of markets and business opportunities will be opened through that.
What are the challenges affecting airports in the country?
The major challenge around here would be the visibility. It means during the harmattan period as you can see, the aircraft will not be able to land at some visibility level.
National Air Management Agency is working on installing some instruments such as landing system that will aid the aircraft to land even at low visibility.
We are hoping that will come on board hopefully by next year, but for now what has happened is that, some airlines like Air Peace, have gone for a smaller aircraft that can land even in poor visibility.
So the situation where we don’t have flights during harmattan might come to an end at this period.
The other challenge is that we really need an increase in business. This is an airport, though it’s like we are taking the first steps, we need to keep going.
It needs to be expanded beyond what it is now. For an airport that has been in existence for over 30 years, and the operation is minimal, just one flight each day, we need to go beyond that.
We can have two, three flights. I am looking at an Akure that when you come at any time, you will be able to get a flight, whatever destination you are going to.
Right now it is limited. People going to the far East go by the road. If possible, we should have flight operations into the East and other routes like that. We want an increase in operation, not just once per day. Those are the challenges we are working on.
When it comes to collaboration with the state government, how has that been and what other things do you want it to do?
If government do the ‘cargo’ that will be alright. And then government can get MoUs for other routes apart from Lagos and Abuja.
We are still doing some statistics, without the statistics, the airline will not go.
They need to know if we have the strength or the passengers for the route, that can sustain the route. You don’t just put your aircraft where there are no passengers or where it is seasonal.
If they are sure that there are lots of people going on that route on a daily basis, then I am sure they will come. I am working on it with the head of Commercials. We are finding out the number of people.
What about the federal government?
The federal government should do more, but the airport should be allowed to be on its own, run on its own.
In Nigeria, it is the federal government that is in charge. And you have to wait for the federal for whatever you want to do. The government is shouldering most of the responsibilities.
But with the airport autonomy, people that are given contracts to do can be held accountable to carry out the projects properly because we have many projects that have been left uncompleted.
Do we have such projects here?
We still have projects ongoing. For example, our terminal building is not finished. What we have is a temporary one.
This temporary one is just an intervention to ease passengers’ transportation but the main one is still there yet to be completed. If it is completed, the movement of people here will be better.
The Oba Ile-airport road was dualised a few years ago. How much of a relief has that been?
It is a very great relief because when I came here in 2014, there was no road there.
The road was completed in 2016 or so. It was quite a relief, because when I came, people would say is there an airport in Akure?
But that question now is becoming very minimal, because accessibility is good. Just from Alagbaka straight and when you are going, you go out straight, there is no congestion on the road. It has eased passengers’ movement in and out of the airport.
There was a story that trended some months ago of cattle on the runway, how did you deal with that?
It’s been a recurring things and we have had to put up a fence round the perimeter to ensure that that does not happen again and we have equally increased the patrol of the runway.
We have equally ensured that every flight that is landing or taking off is escorted by security vehicles, and we have been having several meetings with cattle rearers, the fulani people.
We had one about last week. We keep talking with them to know that this place shouldn’t be a place they should come. They should try and keep away from the runway as much as possible. We are working with them and also with the police on that matter.
Is there any collaboration with Akure people?
We have their support, because if we don’t have their support we will not be able to stay here.
We meet with the obas regularly if we have any issue with the community, we relay messages to them.
What kind of issues?
There are issues of incursion. Apart from cow incursion, we have human incursion on which we take to the obas.
People move along the runway, crossing from the other side to this place. They move across the land on the airport. We have to talk to them that it is an operational area. Those are the things we tell them that they should please tell their people, not to come here, an aircraft is something you don’t want to toil with.