Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Mr Festus Keyamo has provided more information on the closure of Akanu Ibiam International Airport in Enugu State.
TheNewsGuru.com (TNG) reports Mr Keyamo made clarifications on the closure of the airport after the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) announced it on Saturday.
The Aviation Minister confirmed that the closure is for two weeks, starting from April 22nd and that scheduled flight operations to Enugu will be diverted to other neighbouring airports.
“We have been compelled to take this decision to close the runway of the Akanu Ibiam International Airport, Enugu, for two weeks starting from April 22nd, 2025, in order to carry out major repair works on it.
“We sincerely apologise to Nigerians over this development as the airport is our major international gateway in the Southeastern part of Nigeria.
TNG recalls that the Enugu airport runway was shut in August 2019 for one year and a contract for total rehabilitation was awarded.
“I personally visited the airport some months after assuming office and expressed my total displeasure with the work done by the contractor,” Keyamo said.
He added: “Unfortunately, when we came to office, we discovered that waterlogged part of the runway was not properly constructed to take care of the problem, leading to constant cracks and potholes on the runway.
“These obviously put the lives of the travelling public at great risk. We have been carrying out constant palliative works on it, but the problem has not abated and the cracks on the runway are becoming craters”.
Keyamo went further to say: “In the meantime, scheduled flight operations to Enugu will be diverted to other neighbouring airports.
“We are going to work tirelessly to meet the timeline in order to mitigate the inconvenience this closure will cause the travelling public”.