Chairman Senate Committee on Cooperation and Integration in Africa/NEPAD, Senator Chimaroke Nnamani, Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Enugu East has said that the reopening of Akanu Ibiam International Airport, Enugu would boost the nation’s economic recovery.


Senator Nnamani who expressed delight on the reopening of the airport after the repairs, said that he was optimistic that the economy of the nation especially in the Eastern region that was on the low ebb because of the shutdown aggravated by the outbreak of coronavirus would now pick up.
In a statement issued in Abuja yesterday, Senator Nnamani said: “I welcome the news of the reopening of the Akanu Ibiam International Airport that serves as the gateway to the Igbo area of Nigeria with excitement“.
Recall that the airport had been shut down for 370 days by the aviation authorities because of safety concerns including the hitherto faulty runway surface and navigational aids in order to meet international standards. The former governor who hailed the Governor of Enugu State, Chief Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, for his leading role in the actualisation of the project, said: “It is ennobling that Governor Ugwuanyi has lived up to the expectation of overseeing the primary and central city of Igbo land. “He did not only coordinate, organise and champion the activities but he was directly involved on a daily basis. “It is consistent with the role expected of the Governor of Enugu State to symbolize total Igbo social and cultural appropriation of the city of Enugu.” Senator Nnamani however advised airport users not to allow the excitement of the reopening to undermine the adherence to all the COVID-19 protocols, saying that the health of citizens matters.