From SA on ICT, Kaduna 

Kaduna Airport to Gain International Status

23 August 2008

The federal government has said that it would upgrade the Kaduna airport and make it a viable international airport.

Minister for aviation Felix Hassan Hyat disclosed this in his Abuja office yesterday, when the governor of Kaduna State, Architect Namadi Sambo, paid him a visit.

The governor was in Abuja to solicit the assistance of the federal government in upgrading the Kaduna airport to an international one in order to boost tourism and attract international tourists to the state. He revealed that the state government had embarked on the project of building a new city equipped with tourist sites, and that the city when completed would go a long way in boosting the socio-economic potential of Kaduna State. He also appealed to the government to expand the road leading to the airport.

Sambo also hinted that his administration is expanding the irrigation system in the state so that farmers could farm all-year-round to enable the state produce specific crops for export. He assured the minister that all necessary infrastructure was being put in place to ensure the success of the airport when it is upgraded. He stressed that with the kind of development plans his administration was envisaging for the state, an international airport had become most expedient.

On the partnership of the Kaduna State government with the Nigeria College of Aviation Technology, NCAT, Zaria, Architect Sambo said that, as a result of the partnership, the state government had sponsored 15 indigent students to the aviation college at a cost of N27 million, as a mark of its commitment to the development of the country's aviation industry.

Responding, Hyat said that the federal government would partner with the state government to make Kaduna airport one of the cargo airports in the country in view of the enormous socio-economic benefits Nigeria would stand to gain.

He also commended the effort of the Kaduna State government in partnering with the Aviation College, Zaria, which has led to a marked increase in the number of student enrolment in the college.

The minister said that the federal government was already addressing the issues raised by the governor, hinting that the former administration of Olusegun Obasanjo had also talked about making Kaduna airport a cargo airport because of its strategic importance to the Nigerian economy.

Governor Arch Mohammed Namadi Sambo is a true democrat, whose approach to problems is always humane and conciliatory he is a man of peace who patiently looked to the future with courage and hope. His commitment in the direction of transforming the state into a relatively better integrated and functional polity is continuing  with a mission  to create a stable  and cohesive polity capable of securing effectively the interests of the various communities and giving them the opportunity to develop and live in peace  with one another.

» STATE MINISTRIES