Built for Umahi’s visits? Ebonyi’s N54bn airport ‘only opens when former gov flies home’

A visit to Ebonyi State’s Chuba Okadigbo International Airport in Abakaliki by SaharaReporters on September 8 revealed a completely deserted facility — eerie silence, empty roads and hungry-looking security guards — more than 1,200 days after its N53 billion commissioning, with fewer than 55 total flight landings recorded since inauguration.

Sources told SaharaReporters the airport primarily opens when former Governor and Works Minister David Umahi visits Abakaliki from Abuja.

Structural defects on the concrete runway — which damaged aircraft landing gear — forced Governor Francis Nwifuru’s administration to spend an additional N17.3 billion in remedial works. Nine months after announcing the procurement of three state aircraft, none has arrived, generating allegations of procurement fraud.

“The airport is a misplaced priority,” lawyer Gerald Ede said. “Ebonyi needs factories, not an empty airport.”