THE ABIA AIRPORT BLUNDER By Chuks Akamadu Ordinarily, as an Abian, one would have been jubilant that Abia, God’s Own State, is about carving out a place for herself on the Nigerian aviation map. But these are not ordinary times for Abians – and theirs are not ordinary circumstances either. Speaking through his Special Adviser on Public Communication, Mr. Ben Onyechere, Governor T.A Orji, had on November 10, 2013 captured the rationale for the airport thus: “It has become imperative that an airport should be sited in Abia State, considering its location as the commercial and industrial nerve center of the South East. I’m convinced beyond doubt that business and tourism potentials of the state will be enhanced greatly, as much as it will attract more opportunities to grow existing facilities in the state.” Well intentioned as this airport idea might be, it has very glaring drawbacks the State government needs to pay attention to urgently; which range from poor timing to opportunity cost, viability and the general economic climate of the State. For starters, why would an airport idea be conceived less than eighteen months to the end of a 96-month mandate? And there is this sickening talk about the governor vowing to commission it before leaving office on May 29, 2015. How feasible! It does not appear that the government has chewed sufficiently on this; if anything, it looks more like a product of impulsive judgment that anchors on vainglory. Please where are the Anya O. Anyas, the Chu Okongwus and the Sam Ohuabunwas of Abia State? Please speak up and rescue your State! Current developments in serious-minded States like Enugu, Osun and Gombe make one shudder to ask: how did Abia drift to this ridiculous point? Further, knowledge of elementary economics tells one that for every economic choice made, there is a foregone alternative. In this instance, the foregone alternative (a.k.a opportunity cost) are the critical infrastructure that should precede an airport project and the human capacity crisis that is currently rocking the State. The truth is that the purchasing power of the average Abia trader cannot accommodate the luxury of air travel. Ditto the average civil servant. Take it or leave it, Abians are more of struggling petty traders, but with inherent potential to explore and possibly dominate the world of commerce – if the enabling environment is created. (Please note the difference between petty trading and commerce). Has anybody wondered why major transport companies like Chisco Transport, ABC Transport and Young Shall Grow Motors have all closed their shops in Umuahia? It was because passenger traffic to and fro Umuahia made it impossible for them to break even. Does it then mean that Abians from Umuahia stopped travelling to Lagos and the north? No. But, they use alternative nondescript buses since they could not afford standard fares charged by Chisco Transport and Co. How then does the government think that a people who cannot pay bus fares would be able to pay at least quadruple of same as flight cost? This is where the question of viability or otherwise of the project sails on the water surface. What percentage of Abians/Abia residents will fly in and out of Abia? Is the existence of an airport in itself a tourism attraction and/or an economic opportunity for investors? You see this is where some Abians feel scandalized. Till date, the Japan-of-Africa tag on Aba, Enyimba City, remains a mere wish. Unfortunately, Aba still lacks the irreducible minimum requirements such as good road network, portable water and electricity supply which are a precondition for her much famed technological aspiration. How then can an investor hop into an Abia-bound airplane for business? Worse, there is no serious attempt on the part of the government to rethink its economic policies. For example, what the present government calls ‘Ochendo Youth Empowerment Scheme’ is an on-the-face-of-it populist stunt that treats the symptom, not the disease. The tokunbo vehicles the governor gives out to unemployed graduates questions the education they acquired and mocks their parents who toiled to see them through school. If we want to call a spade by its name, then it is governance by deceit! Simplicita. The right thing would have been to build industries or revive existing ones to absorb these graduates, to enable them give back to the State what they’ve acquired in their years of learning. With this on ground, what is the incentive for higher education in Abia? Is the future Abia not being imperilled? The most annoying part is that before one’s pen dries up, government hatchet-men would have noisily listed legacy projects executed by the present administration as though the incumbent governor did it for Abians as an act of favour or demonstration of benevolence. As usual, their list would include: a new government house, international conference centre and new high court building. They never get to pause to ask: how much of economic sense do these ornamental projects make? Much as Abians would not mind a befitting government house, this new one will not make any significant difference in the unemployment situation in Abia State but would, additionally, present a false impression that all is well with the State. As regards the international conference centre, Abia has yet to evolve a robust intellectual culture that would encourage organizing seminars, public lectures, workshops and symposia – to make the facility worth its value. Controvert this if you can, please. The refurbished high court should also not have been a priority in the face growing number of law students of Abia origin who are not supported by the state government. It is disheartening that there does not seem to be an economic template or direction that guides the present government; that is why we have too many accidental, incoherent projects in Abia today that are not designed to achieve any specific economic goal. Already and as usual, the media is already drawing cheques on Abia over the Abia Airport project. For goodness sake, were all funds expended on ‘Ochendo Youth Empowerment Scheme’ used to set up a major soap-producing company in Aba or revive Abia’s rested publishing company in Umuahia, a sustainable economic frontier would have been opened, and it would have accommodated both the educated and the illiterate. That way, Abia would have appeared serious in the estimation of prospective investors and logically, private sector involvement in the airport project would have been a foregone conclusion. Chuks Akamadu LL.B, BL, PGD, FNIPM, MNIPR (NKO ABIA) Greater Abia Central Movement
Posted on: Tue, 28 Jan 2014 09:30:09 +0000
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