Ogun agro-cargo airport begins charter flight operations

Awaits NCAA’s approval of scheduled flights
Three companies express interest in airport concession

Ogun State Government said it has begun chartered flight operations at the state-owned Agro-Cargo International Airport at the Iperu-Ilishan Road in Ikenne Local Government Area of the state.

The state government said it awaits the approval of the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) to begin commercial operations of the cargo airport. The Commissioner for Works and Infrastructure, Ade Akinsanya, stated this during a tour of the facility in Ogun state.

According to him, the airport is 95 per cent completed, stating that the control tower is in place with equipment ready, adding that the main terminal will be ready by January 2025. He said multiple road networks to the airport make it easier for people to access it.

Consultant to the project, Capt. Dapo Olumide, said the Ogun State Airport is taking time to commence operation because it is working hard to be the first in Nigeria to own an operating permit and not the standard aerodrome certificate widespread across the country.

According to Olumide, the operating permit would see the airport attaining the Encas 2023 permit, which is more stringent than the Aerodrome Certification.
He said the airport is solar-powered because the Ogun State Government had the vision of the private sector in mind while building the airport.

He said the airport is perfect for hajj and pilgrimage operations to reduce the burden of overcrowding at the usual airports. He added that the location is prime for agro products even as Nigerian Customs is relocating its federal operation unit to the state, which is very close to the airport. Olumide said three companies expressed interest in concessions at the airport.

The concessioning has to be clarified. “A lot of people don’t understand what concessioning means. For example, when you hear about Lagos being concessioned, Lagos is not being concessioned. The terminal building is being concessioned, not the airport; the runway will always remain fine.

“The taxiways will always remain, but the concessioning operations of the terminal building will be concessioned.

“Same thing here; we are concessioning the airport’s infrastructure because this is slightly different from Lagos in that this is primarily an aerotropolis. And because it’s an aerotropolis, it is more attractive for a concessionaire. The concessionaire has the opportunity to build whatever they want to on top of what they have seen here in terms of the runway, the master plan, and the business plan.”

Earlier in his remarks, Ogun State Commissioner for Transportation, Gbenga Dairo, said the ministry’s mission was to support the economic and socio-economic development agenda through a multimodal transport system within the state.

He said transportation is one of the essential pillars of that revolutionary intention to ensure that transportation is critical to socio-economic development to centre stage in the administration of Governor Dapo Abiodun. He said the government is set to put measures, infrastructure, and services in place, improving the ease of doing business in the state to attract more activity.