Staff Training Gulps N2.5b, As Akwa Ibom Completes Airport Phase

To Build 10,000 Housing Units

THE Akwa Ibom State government has completed work on Phase 1 of the Ibom International Airport.

Meanwhile, about N2.5b naira is being spent on the training of Engineers and Operational Staff for the airport’s Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul (MRO) facility.

Chairman, Ibom Airport Project, Air Commodore Idongesit Nkanga (rtd), who disclosed this when the National Good Governance Tour Team inspected the facility in Uyo, said Phase 1 of the project comprises the runway, the control tower, the fire bay, the MRO facility and the interim terminal.

He explained that the airport was designed for maintenance and cargo operations, adding that the types of aircrafts expected to be maintained at the facility include Airbus 380, Boeing 747-400 series and Jet-G.

In his remarks, the Minister of Information, Mr. Labaran Maku, stressed the need to have modern facilities that would accommodate Nigeria’s fast growing economy.

He commended the government of Akwa Ibom State for initiating the project, which he said, would add value to Nigeria’s aviation industry.

“We are made to understand that they have already trained many young people all over the country who are already feeding into the aviation system. We hope that this place will be completed in good time so that commercial, and other forms of aircrafts, that are taken out of the country would be maintained here.”

Also, the Akwa Ibom State government is to build 10,000 housing units, aimed at providing houses for low-income earners in the state.

The first phase of the project, comprising 2000 housing units, is almost completed.

The state’s Commissioner for Housing and Urban Renewal, Mr. Emmanuel Enoidem, who disclosed this when the Tour Team inspected the Idu Uruan Mass Housing Estate in Uyo (made up of over 500 housing units), said completed projects include 300 units in Ikot Ekpene, 300 in Eket and 200 units in Ikot Abasi.

Other local government headquarters that benefited from 200 housing units each were Oron and Abak.

Mr. Enoidem said: “We are targeting 10,000 housing units and we are hoping that at completion, they will be given to public servants. It is the intention of this government that all public servants, at retirement, go back to their houses and not rented apartments.”

He disclosed that the state government is now subscribed to the National Housing Fund, which was discontinued in 2002 “to empower public servants, who are contributors, to take advantage of the loan available to buy into this property.”

The Commissioner said contract has been awarded for the provision of infrastructure and other social amenities, as well as security posts in the housing estates, and that work would commence in earnest.

Maku commended the state government for its efforts in tackling the accommodation challenges of citizens in view of the fact that housing is one of the basic needs of people.

He urged the state government to fashion out policy that would incorporate the private sector in provision of housing for citizens on mortgage.

He said: “I believe that if you continue and get 10,000 houses for Akwa Ibom State workers and citizens, it will bring the pressure down significantly.”