Ogheneruona Tejiri, Osubi
Mr Kabir Yusuf Mohammed, Managing Director, Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) in commemoration of 2 Years of seamless Airport Operations and infrastructural development has inaugurated some projects in Osubi Airport in Okpe Local Government Area of Delta State.
The projects inaugurated by the Managing Director includes a modern baggage carosel, a security post, a car wash, renovation and revamping of the entire Power system among others.
It could be recalled that the Federal Government shut down Osubi Airport in February 2020 and reopened it in March 2021 after it took over the operations of the Airport.
The Managing Director also inspected the improved runway and other facilities at the Airport.
Mr. Winston Egwuatu, Airport Manager, who spoke to Reformeronline on behalf of the Managing Director after the inspection, said the that the Airport has made lots of tremendous progress since the Federal Government took it over, adding that they have had massive improvement in terms of aircraft operations.
He said that the Airport currently operates Warri-Lagos, Lagos – Warri and Warri-Abuja, Abuja- Warri flights as well as gives services to chartered flights.
Mr. Egwuatu stressed that when they took over the operation of the Airport, nothing was on ground, nothing was working and they had to overhaul most of the facilities in the Airport.
Accordng to him, “as at the time we took over the Airport, there was virtually nothing on ground. The place was then taken over by reptiles and rodents. But, God on our side, we have made tremendous progress. We have about three steady Commercial Passenger Airline that are operating in Osubi Airport as of today. We have Air Peace, Arik, Aero and others. We also have chartered flights operations and chartered operations of Chevron. So you can see that this Airport is contributing to the economic growth of the nation.”
He added, “the most important project we inaugurated today was the Modern Baggage Carosel because before now, what we have here was a roller mechanism whereby you push one bag and the other one pushes another. Today we have state of the art facilities to deliver baggage in real time to passengers and this is something worth celebrating.”
Mr. Egwuatu spoke further, “today we also have security post with conveniences. We also commissioned a car wash for the use of the passengers which is aimed at generating revenue for the support of the airport. We also commissioned a 250KVA battery inverter system which is meant to power the Airport when there is sudden power outage.”
While calling on Governor Sherrif Oborevwori of Delta State to take the Airport as his baby pet project which the Airport is actually, he commended the host community for their wonderful cooperation, saying, “we could not have done so much if not for cooperation of the people in the community.”
He specifically express his gratitude to HRM Felix Mujakperuo, Orhue1, Orodje of Okpe Kingdom and HRM Emmanuel Sideso, Abe 1, Ovie of Uvwie Kingdom for their fatherly roles in supporting the advancement of the Airport.
