Commercial flights open at Gateway Airport, Iperu Abiodun hails project

 

Commercial flights open at Gateway Airport, Iperu

Abiodun hails project 

Scheduled commercial flights yesterday commenced at the Gateway International Airport, Iperu, Ogun State.

Governor of the state, Dapo Abiodun, while inaugurating the ValueJet Airlines flight to Abuja on its Bombardier CRJ jet, commended the vision of his predecessors in facilitating the construction of the fastest built airport terminal in the country.

Abiodun said the choice  of the location of the airport is not only strategic, but essential in driving the economic development of the gateway state.

He lauded the efforts of the team that delivered the facility, saying such project will boost the socio-economic development of the state.

The governor commended aviation authorities, including the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), for ensuring the regulatory requirements were complied with.

He hailed Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Mr Festus Keyamo, and his team as well as other aviation regulatory bodies for ensuring that all that is required was put to together to accomplish the objective.

Abiodun lauded the efforts of the ValueJet Airlines boss, and other members of the project implementation committee for their hardwork in getting the project ready.

The Ogun State Governor said: "Our vision for Ogun State, which we have  encapsulated is to provide a focused and cohesive governance, while creating an enabling environment for public-private sector partnership, which we believe is fundamental to the economic growth of the state and the individual prosperity of every citizen of Ogun State. 

"In short, that vision clearly aims to bring more people to live, work and play in Ogun state. So, in helping us in actualise that vision, we were advised on how we must ensure that our multi-modal transportation connects road, rail, air and water.

"This location had been chosen by my predecessors. But, they again confirmed, because they wanted to be passionate about the location of the airport. They again confirmed and validated the fact that this is indeed the location for an airport in the state.

"Being almost at the centre point of the state, we came back here and noticed that the land had been encroached on and become a dump site. It was a forest. Today, the journey that started in 2021, and that evolved into the first plane that landed here after the construction of our runway, sometime in February 2023, two years afterwards. It has made us one of the fastest constructed airports. We were given a nice name by the NCAA for private flight operations. That was not the reason why we constructed this airport.

"It was to ensure that we began commercial aviation operations and for both passengers and cargo. And I must say that we've gone through all that we needed to do. We have been very deliberate. We have been very intentional. We've been very diligent, with faith in the almighty God.

"We have ensured that we've left nothing unturned. We've put everything into this airport. For our cargo operations, the cargo warehouse is already in place. For security, we have purpose-built offices and accommodation for all the law enforcement architecture. We are even bringing the airport to this premises. We have Nigerian customs.

"In terms of aviation equipment, we brag and beat our chest as having probably one of the best in the country, our instrument landing system is really functional, our runway lights are probably the best category in Nigeria.

"Our control tower is like no other. And you can see this terminal building speaks for itself. We have ensured that we complied with all the required safety protocols.

"I want to thank the almighty God. Because it's only God that allows you to envision a project and see it to successful completion. I want to thank God for giving us this vision, this very clear vision, that we follow with a lot of passion. Like I always say, when vision meets passion, the result is what you see here. I want to thank all those who have worked very hard on this project. From day one, my commissioner works.

"He came here and did a small ground-breaking. We needed to prove all the naysayers wrong. The commissioner for transport, finance, the contractors, members of my team and our consultants.

"I want to thank the Minister of Aviation, Festus Keyamo, because he followed this airport very passionately. Every time I called, he would direct the regulators to be here to check every step to ensure full compliance."

Also speaking, Director General of NCAA, Captain Chris Najomo lauded Ogun State Government for the project, which he said, will add value to the aviation ecosystem.

Najomo said :" He started this thing in 2021. Now, this is the fastest one we have seen in the creation of airports. As a regulator, we made sure that everything was done according to regulations. As such, we did not leave any stone unturned.

“If other states want to do the same, they must make sure they take value from what Ogun State has done. It is one thing to start a project; it is another to see it through and ensure that regulations are followed.”