State governors and lustful appetite for more airports 

State governors’ appetite for more airports than good roads and rail networks is a misplaced priority. Without due consideration of how to run them efficiently, Nigeria already has an unwieldy list of airports enough to cover almost all 36 states. Rather than infatuating new airports for political gains, state governors should focus on long-lasting road and rail networks for regional connectivity and trade activities most needed in today’s Nigeria.

There is no gainsaying that a country is only as attractive as its ports of entry. But the Nigerian airports have consistently been an eyesore and for reasons that are not far-fetched. The country already has 33 airports – all but two entirely owned by the federal or state governments – and 13 airstrips, four military airfields, and 128 sites with helipads. Of the lot, only the duo of Murtala Muhammed Airport, Lagos, and Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, have sufficient local and international passengers to be viable and self-sustaining.

The others, including Port Harcourt, Kano, Kaduna, and Enugu, are racking operational costs and debts year-on-year. A three-year expenditure account (2017-2019) published by this newspaper showed that a facility like Katsina Airport earned N250.8 million in three years yet recorded an operational cost of N1.58 billion. Ibadan Airport recouped N349.2 million but spent N1.39 billion in three years. Margaret Ekpo International Airport, Calabar, netted N540.8 million in earnings, yet spent N2.50 billion. The situation in other airports is not different. The humongous deficits and debt burden readily foreclose development or efficient operations expected of such facilities.

Neither the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) nor the federal government set out to run the aviation business at a loss. Indeed, a large chunk of these airports were erstwhile owned by the state governments, which got tired of its losses and hurriedly discarded the asset to the FAAN. That is true of the state-built airports in Bauchi, Kebbi, Dutse, and Gombe.

Last year, the Senate approved over N24 billion as a promissory note refund to the Kebbi and Nasarawa State governments for construction works on the Sir Ahmadu Bello International Airport, Birnin-Kebbi, and the Lafia Cargo Airport. The government also promised to refund the cost of the construction of the Chuba Okadigbo International Airport, built by the Ebonyi State government when the current Minister of Works, Dave Umahi, was the governor. The airport was constructed at an estimated sum of N36 billion, requiring another N13 billion to fix its decrepit runway. Meanwhile, that airport has never processed a single commercial flight, local or international. That is the nature of the political airport business in Nigeria.

Bugged by the me-too syndrome, other state governors are still working hard to railroad scarce resources to build more airports in their domain. Ogun State, which has proximity to Lagos and Ibadan Airports, is rounding off on a new airport with much fanfare. Osun State is sandwiched between airports in Ibadan, Akure, and Ilorin. Yet, Osun has an unfinished airport business in Ido-Osun for which the former administration of Rauf Aregbesola committed State resources. The same narrative applies to Ekiti, Benue, Kogi, Yobe, and the latest entrants, Jigawa, Zamfara, and Abia – which are among some of the poorest states with near zero road infrastructure amid pressing needs and hunger among their people.

A fancied airport project is a good political prestige, but to what economic gain, especially within the current realities? Nigeria has the population but has less than 16 million passenger traffic yearly. The number of journeys taken by air fell last year to 15.89 million, down from 16.17 million in 2022. Passenger traffic is incredibly concentrated: just three airports accounted for 92 per cent of all passenger journeys nationwide in 2022, according to the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority.

According to the International Air Transport Association (IATA), a modern airport requires at least five million passengers yearly to be viable. Except for the duo of Lagos and Abuja airports, none of the other aerodromes boasts of such traffic. This is why the government keeps running airports at a loss and a disincentive for further proliferation.

The onus is on the federal government, national and state Assemblies to discourage governors from such high-falutin political projects. If states that already have airports are incurring losses and summarily giving the same away to the federal government, then new entrants should have better justifications than a stale ambition of building an airport during one’s tenure.

Basic needs across the 36 states are indeed overwhelming. While schools and health services are in parlous conditions, gaps in road infrastructure are yawning. States like Ogun, Osun, and Benue have agro and industrial prosperity to distribute, but a terrible road network inaccessible to all. Abandoning all those for some white elephants that would, at best, enable the governor and a few elite members to flyover decadence and administrative negligence beneath is not in the interest of the public good.

Federal aviation authorities should also be more professional in their approvals and succumb less to political entreaties. The more the merrier mantra should not apply in this matter. Aviation is a highly regulated global enterprise with a big price tag. All emerging infrastructures have serious implications for regulatory agencies and service providers, responsible for deploying a specialised workforce. While most of the departments across the airports are short-staffed, it has been a running battle getting most airports to pay for services as and when due. Therefore, granting fresh approvals to airports that are unviable ab initio is a disservice to the entire aviation sector.

Across the board, a paradigm shift should emphasise quality rather than a quantitative approach to problems. The fewer facilities that can function efficiently and effectively, the better for the system. It is preferable to having too many wrongheaded projects that will soon become an albatross on successors. The political class should learn the virtue of creating the greatest good for the greatest number of people. It is indeed good to have an airport nearby, but the current reality does not support such flights of fancy. Governors should commit more resources to good roads and rail networks.