From Uchenna Inya, Abakaliki
The Wilberforce Chuba Okadigbo Airport, Ebonyi State began operation on June 13, 2025 when the first commercial flight landed at the airport. The airport was not functional after being declared completed by the past administration in the state led by Dave Umahi, an engineer.
Although about N42bn was spent on the airport by the former administration, Francis Nwifuru observed that the runway, which was constructed with concrete, made it impossible for flights to land at the airport. So, the governor engaged a foreign contractor that rehabilitated the runway with over N20bn, yet the airport was not operational until June 13, 2025 when the first commercial flight landed on it.
The commercial flight-United Nigeria Airline with registration 5N-8WV, landed at the airport at exactly 10:30am on that June 13 with passengers. The flight boarded in Abuja and landed at the airport with the passengers.
One of the passengers, Emmanuel Nwafor, described the landing of the aircraft on the airport as a dream come through.
鈥淲e鈥檝e yearned and at a point we were even agitating because the volume of investment in this airport by the state government is something this airport should have been classified as the best in the country but we are seeing a lot of delay in commencement.
鈥淏ut today, history is made. We have broken the jinx and I鈥檓 privileged to be part of the partaker of what God has done for Ebonyi State.
鈥淭he flight was very smooth. There was no turbulence; the take off and the landing was very perfect,鈥 he said.
Another passenger, who landed at the airport, Prof Chigozie Ogbu, said the landing of the commercial flight shows that the state has arrived.
He said: 鈥淭his is the first flight and I am lucky to be part of the passengers that landed here.
鈥淚t was a very smooth landing. The runway is one of the best in the country and it was a good landing, as good as any place in the world and I flew from Abuja.鈥
Former chairman, Revenue Mobilization, Allocation and Fiscal Commission, Chief Elias Mbam, who was among passengers that were boarding for Abuja from the airport, said he was happy for the boarding and congratulated the state for the commencement of commercial flight operations in the airport.
鈥淭hey have started very well and I am impressed with the facilities that I saw at the airport. They need to beef it up and make the flight more regular,鈥 Mbam stated.
Another passenger, Richard Idike, said: 鈥淐ommercial flight operations just started in the Chuba Okadigbo Airport, Onueke. We boarded United Nigeria Airline, from Lagos to Onueke and there were no hitches at all. The take-off and the landing were very smooth.
鈥淚 encourage Nigerians, especially those in the Southern part of the country, in particular Ebonyi, to know that the Chuba Okadigbo Airport has fully started flight operations and should pick their tickets and fly through this place.
鈥楾he runway is the best in the country. I have traveled through other airports but this one is the best among others. It has been certified before now by regulatory agencies.鈥
The state Commissioner for Aviation and Transport Technology, Mrs Ngozi Obichukwu commended Nwifuru for ensuring that flight operations commenced in the airport. She disclosed that another flight will take off on Monday next week from Lagos and land at the airport and also from Onueke to Lagos.
鈥淢ore are yet to come because on Monday we鈥檙e taking off from Lagos to here and we鈥檙e taking off from here to Lagos. We just pray that people should not miss their flight because some of them really missed their flight today.
鈥淭hey should please adhere strictly to time; we are not joking since we have started and there鈥檚 no going back. We are moving on,鈥 the commissioner said.
Since the commencement of the commercial flights operation, hundreds of air travelers from different parts of southern Nigeria have been flooding the airport. Before the commencement of operations, Nwifuru launched a modern transport system in the state known as EBOCAP with hundreds of new Hilux vans as taxis which have been shuttling the airport, carrying passengers to and fro.
The airport, located in Ezza North and Ezza South local government areas of the state,, was inaugurated few weeks to the end of the Umahi administration in the state. But since it was constructed, the airport has continued to have one issue or the other arising from the construction pattern, preventing flight operations at the airport until June 13.
Nwifuru had discovered another issue at the airport before commencement of the flight operations. The governor said the terminal building roof of the airport was leaking and that it will cost N2billion re-roof it.
He disclosed this to journalists while answering questions on the airport after the second anniversary celebration in his office. He added that the bill had been brought to him by the contractor that will handle the re-roofing project.
Nwifuru said: 鈥淧eople are just taking the Ebonyi Airport issue to the stage that I don鈥檛 know. We don鈥檛 really have issue in Ebonyi Airport. The other day, I saw a post on Facebook where water took over some sections of the airport and I went to the airport myself and saw what happened.
鈥淥riginally, some places were designed to be flat roof and it was roofed with concrete. Some places were also designed to be roofed with corrugated aluminum while oven baked aluminum was used to roof those places and those places that were used with aluminum are not leaking.
鈥淣ow, we found out that where we have water collectors and the drainage inside the roof and we started having some leakages there of which you can鈥檛 blame anybody. Before, we were blaming some contractors but now we have realized that its not the contractors fault.
鈥淪o, what we are doing now is to re-roof everywhere and that鈥檚 what we are doing. They have brought their bill and it is about N2bn to roof it but it鈥檚 not an issue. We didn鈥檛 give anybody job and the person didn鈥檛 do it. If we had given the person job and the person didn鈥檛 do it, we would have been saying that the person did a shoddy job. But we hope this is a flat roof and we did a decking. That the decking is leaking is not anybody鈥檚 fault.鈥
Investigation by Daily Sun revealed that the state has procured two aircrafts in Germany, which will soon be unveiled after necessary arrangements. The plan was for three aircrafts but it settled for two. The aircrafts will be marked, Ebonyi Airlines, when it starts operations.