Ndubuisi Orji, Abuja
The deputy minority leader of the House of Representatives, Toby Okechukwu, has cautioned the Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC) against utterances that could derail the reopening of the Akanu Ibiam International Airport, Enugu for flight operations on schedule.
Okechukwu, who stated this in a statement, on Wednesday, was reacting to claims by the Eastern District Manager of the NRC, Osidipe Olusoji, that the Enugu State Government was allegedly frustrating Federal Government’s efforts to extend its standard gauge railway project to the South East by demolishing some facilities of the corporation.
The lawmaker Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi and Governors of the South East region for their commitment in the pursuit of the reconstruction and reopening the airport.
He stated that all the actions so far taken by the Enugu State government were in line with the requests by the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) and the decision of the South East Governors Forum to remove all encumbrances to safe and international flight operations at the airport.
Okechukwu admonished the NRC boss to disclose the scope and details of work so far down by the federal government on Eastern Railway corridor, as the leaders of the zone are willing to contribute their quota to actualise the extension of the standard gauge railway to the area.
The deputy minority leader noted thar while government intervention in the Eastern Railway corridor is welcomed Okechukwu howev“the opening of the airport should not be frustrated as it has economic consequences both for local and international businesses”.
According to him, “it does appear that some of these things are orchestrated to ensure that the airport does not commence operations as planned. This surreptitious distraction, including the demolition of the airport’s fence, and claim of standard gauge for the railway is quite dramatic and surprising.
“For the first time, managers of the Eastern Rail corridor are talking. It is quite surprising that the Railway Corporation is doing any work to upgrade the Eastern Railway Corridor to a standard gauge without the knowledge of the host communities, including the host Governor of Enugu State and the South East Governors Forum.
“In any case, such upgrade is very welcome and is actually what we have been advocating and the region is very ready to cooperate. We still continue to appeal to the Federal Government and the Railway Corporation to make Eastern Rail Line effective because of it’s consequential effect on the citizens, especially the people of South South, South East, North Central, and North East regions. It will also put to rest some of the restiveness in these areas.”