The Governor of Nasarawa state, Mr. Abdullahi Sule has called on the private sector to catch on the huge benefits a cargo airport offers to boost their business and the social economic development of the state.
The Governor said, investments in warehouses, Cold chain facilities and other ancillary service provision would yield high returns on investments if taken advantage of.
Governor Sule made the call when the Managing Director, Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria, FAAN, Mr. Kabir Mohammed led his committee on Aviacargo on a visit and inspection of the cargo airport in the state.
Governor Abdullahi Sule represented by his Deputy, Dr. Emmanuel Akabe said, the building of an airport in the state was not a mistake as the state is ranked number one in sesame seeds production, among the first three states in yam and number five in rice production in Nigeria.
He said, the mainstay of the state is agriculture and about 90% of the people were into farming, adding that, apart from local consumption of the products within the country, exporting them will not only stimulate the economy activities of the state, it would create jobs, encourage farming and generate revenue in Naira and foreign exchange.
According to him, the government would engage stakeholders and investors to invest in the airport to make it viable.
“We need to showcase this to the outside world and not only that, it will boost the economy of the state and the country and the cargo airport become more than necessary and desirable”.
Governor Sule emphasized that, though the cargo airport had been taken over by the Federal Government, the state would work in partnership with the Federal Government in the areas of infrastructure development like the runway to ensure it was big enough to take bigger aircraft.
“We cannot just say Federal Government take it over and leave because we must also take advantage of the presence of the airport and I know that we need to do a little more work in the airport as far as the runway is concerned so that it can take bigger planes, the control tower is already in place and hopefully in a few weeks from now the control tower will be installed, we cannot wait for the FG to do everything”.
Speaking earlier, the Managing Director, Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria,FAAN, Mr Kabir Mohammed represented by the General Manager, Business Development, Mr. Hycienth Ngwu noted that FAAN was ready to form an alliance with the state in facilitating agro products for export through the airport.
He said, the aviacargo committee was put in place not only to boost exports but also to assist would-be exporters understand the requirements to meet to avoid rejection.
“We want to thank you for this idea you have for an airport particularly cargo airport, it will certainly turn around the economy of your state if properly managed, according to IATA, in 2022, aviation cargo generated over $210bn, it is a massive business and Nigeria is desirous of being a big player in aviacargo business”.
The Coordinator of the Committee, Ambassador, Ikechi Uko also emphasized that, in meeting the requirements, standards and certification were key and that is why agencies of government in charge of these areas are part of the committee to give the needed assistance.
He stressed that, the potential for agro exports from the state was huge if properly harnessed.
“The potential for this state is huge and if you are able to get it right, Nigeria’s get it right. We think this airport is strategic, this airport if well organized would do a lot for Nigeria and we have also seen gaps which we want to suggest but I know the FG wants to take over the airport but there are things that the state should handle on its own”.
The Aviacargo Committee members were earlier taken on an inspection tour of the Nasarawa State cargo airport to ascertain the facilities on ground that will ease seamless facilitation of cargo exports.