Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, has been presented with the official letter of approval for the proposed Lekki International Airport.
The Minister of Aviation, Hadi Sirika, presented the letter at the ongoing ninth Ehingbeti Lagos Economic Summit, holding at the Eko Hotel and Suites, Victoria Island.
Despite prior promises and potential including the extensive plans for the development of the area over the years, the project never took off, but the Lekki corridor continued to expand, creating congestion, logistic and traffic chaos, impacting the economic and business opportunities in the area.
The Lekki Airport, to be constructed around the Lekki Free Zone (LFZ), is expected to assist manufacturers and other business owners within the zone to transport their products abroad.
Sirika noted that Lagos State is very significant to Nigeria’s economy, adding that the new airport would help to ease the current congestion at the Murtala Muhammed Airport, in Ikeja.
According to him, Lagos has the resources and exigencies for the project, and is a huge step in the right direction for Sanwo-Olu to construct another airport in the state.
The expansion of Lagos is astronomical, is huge, and is big. The idea and the size of the economy are good and big. So, you need to continue to link Lagos, not only with Nigeria, but Africa and the world.
The Minister said: “Lagos with its GDP, housing and Stock Exchange, 200 financial institutions, 25 million people on 5,377 square kilometres of land mass, including the Eko Atlantic, all the industries, the tradition, the history, the tourist attraction, the Eyo Festival, and so on so forth, needs to be connected to the world.
“For Lagos to continue to be the centre of the economy of the activity of the country, Nigeria, the only best way you can link this city of Lagos to the world is obviously by infrastructure, and especially civil aviation.
“The expansion of Lagos is astronomical, is huge, and is big. The idea and the size of the economy are good and big. So, you need to continue to link Lagos, not only with Nigeria, but Africa and the world.”
Aviation group upbeat
This approval for the new airport comes on the back of support by Nigeria’s aviation pressure group, Aviation Safety Round Table Initiative (ASRTI), for the Lagos State Government to build an airport in the Lekki axis to cater to the burgeoning population and businesses around the industrial layout.
For the benefit of Lagos, the group strongly advocated a Public Private Partnership (PPP) and the need for the regulator, the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), and the Federal Ministry of Aviation, to give the necessary support and approvals for this project.
ASRTI also used the opportunity to call on the relevant agencies and tiers of government, to as a matter of urgency, commence with the repair of the Cenotaphs erected to honour the fallen air passengers at Lisa, Epe and Ejigbo, respectively.
The group said: “These sites serve as a memorial of the dark history of our industry and to honour our fallen citizens. Therefore, roads leading to these sites should be fixed for accessibility.”
