Nigeria’s Minister of Aviation, Senator Hadi Sirika, has reiterated the Federal Government’s desire to reopen the Mallam Aminu Kano International Airport, Kano, for international flight operations, stating that the continued suspension of foreign flights at the airport is affecting the sector’s revenue.
The minister who said this when he received a high powered delegation from Kano State, led by Governor Abdullahi Ganduje in his office on Tuesday, said it does not make economic sense for government to spend so much money, as it has done in the airport, and just decide to leave it inoperative with the attendant degeneration on infrastructure, redundancy amongst operational staff, revenue losses, hardship to travellers, amongst others.
He however told the delegation that included some members of the Kano State House of Assembly, representatives of the Emir of Kano, Alhaji Aminu Ado Bayero and members of the Kano Chamber of Commerce, that the decision to suspend international flights to and from the airport, like the ones in Enugu and Port Harcourt, were for health and security reasons.
While acknowledging the hardship of the suspension to users of the airport, passengers and service providers, he promised that all necessary steps for the resumption of international flight operations at the airport would be fast-tracked to ensure that it resumes sooner than later.
The Kano Governor in his remarks, told the minister that he came to show appreciation to the President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration for the completion of the international wing of the Kano airport, and to appeal for the resumption of international flight operations at the airport.
Ganduje expressed great concern over the effect of the continued suspension of international flights to and from the airport by passengers and service providers.
He assured that the Kano state government has put in place all that was necessary to make the state healthy for flights, including mobilization of the populace for the COVID-19 vaccinations.
