Cross River State Governor, Liyel Imoke
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The Cross River State Government has called on the Federal Government to expand the runway of the Margaret Ekpo International Airport, Calabar so as to accommodate bigger aircraft.
The call followed the designation of airport as one of the agro-perishable cargo airports in the country.
The Acting Governor of the state, Mr. Efiok Cobham, who made the call on Wednesday in Calabar when he received the Director, Cargo Development, Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria, Mr. Roland Ofulue, said the expansion would enable aircraft with bigger tonnage ply the airport without hitches and also enable the facility to function optimally to meet its new status as a cargo airport.
“If you want to run a cargo airport, you don’t run it on a runway that is less than four kilometres. So, definitely, making a case for the runway will be in line with the vision of the Minister of Aviation,” Cobham said.
The acting governor, who commended the Minister of Aviation, Ms. Stella Oduah, for designating the airport as a cargo airport, said the decision would add value to farmers’ endeavour as they would not only find market locally, but in the international arena as well.
Cobham said it would also boost competition and food sufficiency in line with the transformation agenda of the Federal Government.
“Instead of the farmers looking for the market, the market will come to them even right in their farms,” he said.
He also praised the aviation industry authorities for delivering more quality services with discipline, and gave an assurance that the state government would continue to partner them so as to strengthen its focus in making the state the destination of choice for business and leisure in the nation.
He said over the years, local farmers had faced the challenge of access to markets, adding that the plan to make the Calabar airport an agro facility would allay their fears and encourage them to be more productive.
In his response, Ofulue said he was in the state to seek collaboration with the government and people of Cross River on the agro-perishable cargo business initiative aimed at encouraging farmers to go into commercial farming for the purpose of exportation.
“Over the years, our farmers produced, toiled and at the end of the day, have very little or nothing to show in return for their labour and stress. This tends to discourage a lot of people from concentrating on the job”, he said.
He said the agro-perishable cargo business initiative remained a big chain that would create the desired employment, checkmate rural-urban drift, strengthen the serene atmosphere of the state as well as boost profit.