The Director General and chief executive officer of the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NACA), Captain Musa Nuhu, has said that Anambra State means business with the building of its international cargo and passenger airport.
Explaining issues during a tour of the airport at Umueri, Anambra State, he described the upcoming airport as one of the best airports in Nigeria.
He said “I am amazed, almost speechless at the level of work, and the level of compliance with our regulatory requirements and also with international standards and recommended practices.”
According to him, the tour of the airport had given him a clear view of what the Obiano administration had achieved with the project.
Nuhu, who represented Nigeria in the International Civil Aviation Organization, ICAO, before his current appointment said: “We have gone round the airport. We have a runway of 3.7km with a safety area on both ends of the airport of about 1000 meters. There’s no airport in Nigeria that has a racer area of 1000 meters at both ends of the runway. With two taxiways. We have gone to the tower, the control tower is amazing certainly if not one of the best control towers in Nigeria today.
“We have seen the fire service station. Amazing. It’s going to be a CAT 955 firefighting station which will allow big planes and international flights to be landing and taking off here once flight resumes.”
He described the water treatment plant which takes care of the need of not only the airport but also of the firefighting service as amazing. Nuhu said: “We have seen the emergency evacuation center, trauma center in case, God forbid, anything happens. There’s arrangement to deal with any eventuality. I have seen the operational fence, I have seen the perimeter fence, significantly done or almost completed. And in the vehicle earlier today, I had said that ‘Anambra means business.’ And I mean it when I say Anambra means business.”
The director general praised the consultants to the government of Anambra State on the project for a job well done, adding that when the “airport is completed, it is going to be a significant enabler of the economy and growth of this area, the state and the surrounding states here.”
He congratulated Governor Willie Obiano for the legacy project and called for early delivery.
