The Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Barrister Festus Keyamo has commended the Akwa Ibom State Government for its level of preparedness towards the scheduled take-off of international flights from the Victor Attah International Airport (VAIA).
The Minister, who recently announced the international status for the VAIA, gave the commendation shortly after a three-hour inspection of the international wing of the airport and meeting with members of the international wing ecosystem at the VAIA on Tuesday.
The Federal Government’s technical committee to Uyo, the state capital, comprised officials from the Nigerian Customs, Immigration, the Nigerian Drug Law Enforcement Agency, Quarantine, Police, the Department of State Security, the Federal Ministry of Aviation and Aerospace Development, and all its relevant agencies (Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority, Nigerian Airspace Management Agency, Nigerian Meteorological Agency and the Federal Aviation Authority of Nigeria).
Assessing facilities in company of Governor Umo Eno, Keyamo expressed satisfaction with the standard of facilities as well as the level of preparedness, and said that the state was already ahead of the planned take-off scheduled for April 2026.
‘Having heard from all the agencies involved in an International Airport ecosystem, who are all here with with me and having held a closed door meeting together… Akwa Ibom State is already ahead of the planned schedule to operate an international airport and flights from Uyo… We thought the gaps to be closed would be much, but they are virtually little or no gaps. Akwa Ibom State has gone ahead of schedule to a full blown International Airport’, he said.
Facilities inspected included the brand new and well-equipped international terminal and the aircraft Maintenance, Repair, and Overhaul (MRO) sector, which he described as one of the standard requirements for an international airport.
He said that the state is ready to render its aviation services to the world and make Akwa Ibom and Nigeria proud.
‘This facility we are seeing here is the MRO. That means that all international airlines coming here have a facility where they can conduct routine checks before they fly out again. It is one of the standard requirements of any international airport’, Keyamo said.
He described the state as a home of great people, blessed with good successive and visionary leaders who build on quality foundation laid by founding fathers, a gesture that have encouraged growth and facilitated rapid development in the State.
He thanked the governor for building on the existing foundation of his predecessors, a choice that has raised the state to an enviable height.
‘We can only thank the visionaries of Akwa Ibom State. We also thank God for Pastor Umo Eno who has actually consummated every plan of his predeccessors. He has not abandoned the State’s Master Plan.
‘Akwa Ibom State has been blessed with a succession of visionary leaders, and everyone of them has been God sent to this place, and this is just one of the lines of successors we have here.
‘We are happy that Pastor Umo Eno took it from where he met it and by God’s grace, it is during his time that every foundation and seed that has been laid 25 years ago has come to fruition’, he stated.
The governor commended past leaders of the state for laying the solid foundation that has enhanced growth and development.
‘It is humbling, I must tell you, and like the Honourable Minister has said, I have always said that Akwa Ibom is blessed with good leaders. So we should stop castigating them, we should stop insulting them, they have laid a good foundation, and each administration has built on it.
‘But for me, it is the grace of God. God used them to begin the work, but the promise could not be realized without us. So we have seen this playing out and we thank God for the privilege. I thank Akwa Ibom people for giving us that opportunity’, he said.
Eno thanked the Minister for his honesty, zealous and passionate effort towards ensuring that the facilities are properly ulitised for the overall economic benefit of the country.
He appreciated President Bola Tinubu’s administration for granting approval of the upgrade of VAIA.
He thanked the President also for the prompt release of funds for project execution in the state.
‘These airport projects have not come this far with borrowed money. Akwa Ibom is not owing any bank a dime today. It Akwa Ibom. If our president did not make the fund available, there is no way we would have got to where we are today’, he said.
