Date: 2016-12-21

The Ilorin Cargo Port, a vision of Dr. Bukola Saraki when he was governor of Kwara State, was meant to become a rallying point for cargo operators in the northern part of the country, offering reduced costs and less wastage to cargo owners, farmers and agro-allied investors due to traffic snarls and accidents on the long Lagos expressway.

The port was also to serve white farmers who had relocated from Zimbabwe to Shonga in the northern part of the state and are mainly export-oriented in their operations. Thus, from Ilorin, they could send their fresh farm produce to any location in the world. It was a grand dream and very tempting.

However, six years after the completion of the cargo shed, there is nothing to indicate any load would soon leave the premises, despite the huge investment that has gone into the project. The roof on the gatehouse and some sections of the complex has been blown off.

There was no way to enter the premises, but from outside, one could see three trucks inside, apparently abandoned. The paints on the walls and roof are already submitting to the harsh weather and none-use.

"The vision to make Kwara an aviation hub was not an overnight thing, but a product of deep thinking on how to move the state out of a docile public sector- driven state to a private," said Dr. Bukola Saraki during an interview after he left office as Executive Governor of Kwara State.

One of the unique features of the idea, which culminated in the re-modelling of the Ilorin International Airport, was the addition of a Cargo Shed to the premises to give importers and exporters an opportunity to leverage on the geographical advantage of Kwara as middle point between the north and south.

It will cost less to handle cargo from Ilorin for onward delivery to the north than from Lagos. Giving more details about the vision, Saraki recalled: "It was when I was bouncing ideas around on the state's potentials that the vision came up, that Kwara can be an alternate international Cargo Airport to Lagos and also serve the northern part of the country.

That's why immediately I assumed office; I awarded the contract for the re-modelling, upgrading and total rehabilitation of the Ilorin International airport after I got the permission to do so from the federal government."

Many stakeholders applauded the idea, which was also expected to boost the economic profile of Kwara as operators in the cargo handling sector of the aviation industry were expected to move down and open offices in town.

It would also mean more frequent movement of pilots and other air personnel who would all need suitable accommodations.

Therefore, in anticipation of the great visitations, investors in the hospitality industry opened shops in town with hotels springing up more frequently than other industry investments particularly in the state capital, Ilorin.

Today, they are still waiting because the Cargo Shed to attract the visitors is yet to begin operation. Thus, many residents of Kwara State are now wondering why it is taking so long a time for the good dream about the Ilorin Cargo Airport to actually materialise.

They now see the structures of the airport over grown with bush and ask whether it would not also join the very long list of government projects that are usually abandoned across the country.

President Olusegun Obasanjo had commissioned the multimillion naira cargo shed located within the premises of Ilorin International Airport on July 10, 2006 and commended Saraki, who was governor of Kwara State then, for the innovation, promising that the cargo shed will become an important investment in the national economy.

He even asked other governors to emulate the initiative demonstrated by their Kwara State counterpart. Impressed by the development, a media stakeholder in the aviation industry, Airport News was full of praises for the project in one of its 2006 editions.

The newspaper's editors said: "Nigeria has developed a world class cargo hub operating from Ilorin International Airport. Whilst some parts of Africa are struggling with the most basic infrastructural challenges, Ilorin International Airport is at the heart of a cargo revolution in Africa.

Ilorin International Airport has been redesignated and equipped as a specialist cargo airport. The airport will have cargo import handling capacity from December 2006. A brand new cargo terminal is under construction and will be completed in May 2007 facilitating some of the most efficient cargo handling in Africa. Ilorin International Airport has a 3110m (10200ft) runway and no airfield or noise restrictions. Uniquely, it also provides 24 hour opening, 24 hour customs and 24 hour immigration."

Although the project could not be completed in 2007 as envisaged, the airport still came into reckoning when it successfully handled some international flights, including the ones for the repair of some abandoned military aircrafts that were flown to Italy, as well as the now popular "VIP Cow Flights" that brought the South African cows for milking at the New Nigerian Farms in Shonga, Edu Local Government Area. These were meant to be 'test runs' for the eventual takeoff of the cargo project.

Work continued on the project till 2008 when Saraki revealed that hope for its completion in October of that year was tied to the release of counterpart fund by the federal government.

The then governor, now Senate President, had described the Cargo terminal, which was already about 65 percent completed, as a ‘big project’ that will be the largest of its kind in Nigeria and promised that by October 2008, the world would gather to clap for the completion.

Although the Terminal is a joint project between the federal government and the Kwara State, Saraki said then his administration was saddled with finding fund for the N600 million-project cost.

"We hope that with the passage of the 2008 budget, the federal government will now be able to put down its counterpart fund for the project", he had said. Six years after that expression of hope, the project appears now in a state of abandonment.

There are no workers on site. The gates are locked, firmly, and inside are overgrown bushes that are very visible from the expressway overlooking the project site. There is no need imagining that rodents would have taken over the inside of the project that was meant to write the name of Kwara on the map of global cargo destinations.

In a statement by his media team in 2012, Saraki explained that what was left was the completion of the apron wing of the shed, which was expected to be built by his successor-in office, Alhaji Abdulfattah Ahmed. But current Commissioner for Works and Transport in the state, Alhaji Aro Yahaya said the apron has been completed, but that the project is bogged down by challenges of 'regularly approvals.'

In December 19, 2012, Chief Hope Uzodinma, as Chairman, Senate Committee on Aviation, led a team of his members to inspect the facility and hinted about how the federal government could take over the project as one of the six regional cargo airports then proposed for the country by the administration of former president, Goodluck Jonathan. "We are quite impressed about what we have seen", he told a team of newsmen on his entourage.

He added: "The idea for six regional cargo international airports is a welcome idea in Nigeria. If in the vision of the Kwara State Government, they have already started and so much work had been done, it will be very serious factor when final decision on the issue will be taken."

The contractor handling the project told Uzodinma and his colleagues that the work should be completed by February 2013. The senator expressed hope the deadline would be met "so that government will begin to look at other ways of supporting and intervening."

During the tour, it was clear from the interaction between the Senate team and the contractors that there were some critical technical issues that the federal government was not comfortable about on the project.

For instance, the team was told there was need to expand length of parts of the shed to accommodate big cargo planes. The then Kwara Commissioner for works and transport, Dr. Abubakar Kannike had told the Committee that the cargo terminal has capacity to take two Boeing 747 aircraft at a time.

He said all the facilities at the cargo terminal are of international standard with capacity for over 60,000 tonnes of goods. Given the exchanges between the Senate team and the contractors, some journalists asked Uzodinma to be specific on the fate of the project.

Then he said: "Part of the reason for this inspection is to see how we can migrate from this as a state project to a federal project. If you listened to me, you can see that the Transformation Agenda of President Goodluck Jonathan is really to transform the country economically, socially and politically. You will agree with me that apart from other benefits inherent to this project, there will be immediate creation of employment.

So, in the vision of the Federal Government, if what they envisaged is already in existence, of course, it goes without saying that they will be encouraged in their vision to develop an international cargo of this nature."

Asked for the findings of his team, the senator said: "My report is reserved for me."

In February 2015, Director of Cargo Development of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria, (FAAN), Dr. Uchenna Ofulue, told Governor Ahmed that the agency was ready to partner the state on the development of the cargo sector in Kwara. According to him the initiative, when fully implemented, would attract unparalleled benefits to the state and Nigeria.

But FAAN officials in Ilorin told our reporter during the course of investigations that they had nothing to do with the project, insisting it is purely a baby of the Kwara State Government.

Although nothing was heard about the project again, the Commissioner for Works and Transport, Alhaji Aro Yahaya, whose schedule covers such projects, was reported in local media earlier this year as saying that there was still hope on the project as the state and federal governments were set to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) after which work will begin at the cargo site.

In a discussion with our reporter, Yahaya asked the media to assist the state in making known to the world the need for the federal government to step in and do the needful over the project.

He said: "We did it to facilitate the transportation of perishable and agro-allied products but now we have challenges of logistics and approval from the regulatory authorities. I have discussed with the local airport and officials and FAAAN to ensure that the facility can be optimally utilised.

We want to say that even if the federal government wants to take it over, let them do so because it will help the farmers. The Nigerian Shippers' Council was here last year and organised a programme around the project and at the end of the day when we inspected the facility together they were marvelled that such a thing exists here.

"Well now it is almost completed because we have done the runway, we have done the apron, but you know as a state we cannot run it on our own. It's just like an airport; all the states that have airports need federal regulatory approval.

The federal government should support the project because the agencies responsible for the approval are federal government outfits. It is just like the federal roads, which we as a state are building or rehabilitating and we are being paid back by the federal government.

I want you to help us appeal to the federal government to support the project". When asked what the problem could be, given the fact that the state is also a member of the All Progressive Congress (APC), Yahaya said, "It is not because of party, because when we started the project, we were also in the PDP which was the ruling party then.

What matters to us is not really the refund, but for that project to take off because of the economic impact on the people of northcentral Nigeria. It is the only one of its kind in the region and you can imagine the multiplier effects on the people."

Meanwhile, email inquiries to the office of Astra Aviation, a UK and African cargo specialist said to have been the management consultant to the project were also not replied.

Astra Aviation, headed by Philip James Eyre, started operation in July 2004, with office at 20- 22 Bedford Row, London WC1R 4JS. On its website, the company parades itself as providing key aviation services such as Operations Support Services, Aircraft Delivery Operational and Engineering Support Service, Aircraft Planning, Airport Management, Cargo Tracking, Permit Applications, Safety Auditing, Consultancy and Training as well as Security Auditing, Consultancy and Training.