Renovation of the Enugu Airport is taking place on a platform of a ‘wing and a prayer’. If a government takes on a task ‘on a wing and a prayer,’ the government does so on the assumption that it would succeed, even if it is not sufficiently prepared to take on that responsibility. This is the philosophy that underpins the Federal Government’s work at the airport.
The airport was shut down on August 24, 2019. The Aviation Minister promised the airport would be reopened before Christmas last year. That did not happen. Six weeks before Christmas, the government shifted the scheduled date for completion of the renovation.
Like a driver lost for direction at a road intersection, the government veered direction, made another pledge, and swore the rehabilitation would be completed by Easter 2020. We are now six weeks away from that deadline. The jury is still out on that pledge. Reconstruction of the airport is still cloaked in uncertainties. As the target date for reopening the airport approaches, concerns are growing that government could break its promise yet again. That would be one joke too many. No one is amused.
Inconsistency in meeting due dates for project implementation has become the brand name of government. Promises are made. Promises are broken. And yet more assurances are given. Nothing is delivered according to plan. These contradictions fuel public scepticism over government’s ability to achieve its goals.
There is no reason why government cannot complete on schedule a minor project such as reconstruction of the Enugu Airport. Unlike private businesses, the government has all the resources to deliver on its promises. The renovation of the Enugu Airport is not a mammoth project that can overwhelm the Federal Government.
Although the reconstruction is a federal project, it is not only the Federal Government that should be held blameworthy. Governors of the South-East states should constitute a pressure group to ensure timely completion of the project. The idea that the Enugu Airport is a federal project because the governors did not award the contract is sheer nonsense. The governors can serve as overseers of the renovation. They can take a lead role to influence the Federal Government to accelerate the speed of work at the airport.
Politics at federal and state levels can enfeeble the best-laid plans. In a metaphorical sense, South-East governors must not watch apathetically as their house is engulfed by political flames. Given the influential political position they occupy, the governors are best placed to take up the matter with federal authorities.
When he inspected work at the airport runway six weeks ago, Ebonyi State Governor Dave Umahi surprised everyone when he expressed satisfaction with the progress of work. That optimism was based on impaired evidence. Here is the snag. Umahi said other aspects of the reconstruction such as the terminal buildings would be undertaken when funds were made available by the Federal Government from the 2020 budget appropriation. This shows the terminal buildings are not part of ongoing reconstruction and will not be dealt with until funds are released by the Federal Government.
Umahi said: “There is budget for the terminal buildings, especially the international wing, and when we went to see Mr. President, he assured that, in 2020 budget, funds would be allocated; and so when capital projects funds are released, I am sure it will get started.
Umahi should understand the politics better than ordinary citizens. It is one thing to budget for a project and, in the Nigerian context, it is another thing altogether to release the funds.
This suggests that the much-hyped work at the Enugu Airport remains a propaganda. Hoping for release of funds just two months to the expected completion of work is more like an illusion or deception. Going by previous experiences, one could argue the funds will never be released on time to complete the terminal buildings before Easter. That is how political leaders deceive civil society. Six weeks from the scheduled completion of the renovation, a governor is still telling us that funds budgeted for the terminal buildings would still be released and the project completed on time. If you believe that twaddle, you will believe anything.
The Federal Government has found an alibi for delaying work at the Enugu Airport. And Umahi has prepared the ground on which the government would explain its suspension of the project.
This kind of blind politics is precisely why everyone should be disappointed with governors of South-East states and their lack of concern for the situation at the Enugu Airport. Like Umahi, the governors seem to believe anything they are told by federal officials. Yet they have the combined political power to influence Buhari to ensure the airport reconstruction was completed without further delays.
Part of the reason why people in the South-East are unhappy with their governors is the governors’ faint-heartedness and caginess in taking on the Federal Government to do what is good and proper for their region and their people. To be clear, renovation at the airport was due to be completed by the end of this month. Reopening of the airport was scheduled to occur before Easter (next month). However, if the reconstruction was not completed and if the airport was not reopened as scheduled, it would not be the first or second time the government had disappointed people in the South-East for whom the airport serves as a major gateway.
In October 2019, Aviation Minister Hadi Sirika admitted that work had not started at the airport because the Federal Government had not released money needed to start the renovation. That was more than two months after the airport was shut in August to enable reconstruction to commence. Oddly, despite that admission, the minister insisted that the work would be completed before Christmas last year. Of course, that exaggerated optimism was never upheld.
Similarly, in September last year, Buhari said publicly that his government had the responsibility to look after the welfare of citizens. He made the statement during a presidential retreat for ministers-designate, permanent secretaries, and high-ranking officials of government. While advising the ministers to attend to the basic needs of citizens rapidly, Buhari reminded them they had an obligation to uplift the economic conditions of the general population.
Buhari said at that retreat: “Majority of our people are poor and are anxiously hoping for a better life. A Nigeria in which they do not have to worry about what they will eat, where they will live or if they can afford to pay for their children’s education or health care… Our responsibility as leaders of this great country is to meet these basic needs for our people.”
This is nothing but speechmaking by a President who loves making speeches and promises but acts on a few or none. Ironically, the more promises government makes, the more people lose their faith in government.
The never-ending promises of government to alleviate poverty, drive down crime, strengthen security, boost healthcare, lift people above the poverty line, and restore decaying infrastructure have lost many believers and supporters.
The Enugu Airport renovation remains a bone wedged delicately in the government’s throat. How quickly and successfully the government extracts that bone from its throat will define how people in the South-East region of the country would perceive the Buhari administration.