The Federal Government on Friday said it planned to downgrade the Akanu Ibiam International Airport, Enugu or shut it down for runway rehabilitation.

The Minister of State for Aviation, Senator Hadi Sirika, who made this known at the 2019 Stakeholders’ Forum, in Lagos, said the decision was taken to enable the Federal Government to work on the airport runway to avoid any major incident.

I have been there three times, seen the governor of the state and told them what to do but nothing has happened.

When the government wanted to expand the runway to 60 metres long and 71 metres wide, there were few houses there and we were promised that they would be demolished and the owners compensated so we can have the improvement but now they have built more houses.

The Managing Director, Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria, Mr Saleh Dunoma, said the rehabilitation process might not take long as there were plans to finish the new terminal and move some airline operations there.

Source: punch ng