A very agricultural region if ever there was one, the Ogun State, which shares a common border in the South-West of Nigeria with the Republic of Benin, has decided to move on to another dimension of its development. By inaugurating an International Agricultural Freight Airport in the State. Main objective: to boost the development of Ogun State and at the same time that of Nigeria.
According to Abdulwaheed Odusile, the State Commissioner for Information and Strategy of Ogun State Government, the International Cargo Airport under construction in Ogun State, South West Nigeria, is in its completion phase. And its opening to traffic is scheduled for the end of this year 2022. The main works, in particular the administrative building, the 4 km airstrip, the control tower and the fire station are being finalized according to Local Government. If it is planned for freight as a priority, infrastructures are also being put in place for passenger transport.
At the end of the works, the will of the Nigerian authorities is to make it an international testing facility where all agricultural products from Nigeria will be certified in accordance with international standards. A laudable ambition for a large country whose agricultural products need to find outlets beyond the continent. The various State services are gradually being put in place in order to make the new export tool which the country is in the process of acquiring through Ogun State a real lever for the export of its various agricultural products. This is the case with the Nigerian Air Force, the Nigeria Customs Service, etc.
Ogun State is renowned in Nigeria for being particularly endowed with both agricultural and manufacturing potential. Due to huge concentrations of national infrastructure that make it a major and important industrial center of the country, especially with the concentration of factories that is its own. So many assets that inaugurate a promising development of traffic at its airport.
The construction project of the Ogun International Cargo Airport in Nigeria started under the leadership of former Governor Daniel Gbenga. His idea was that the proximity of this state to Lagos, the former federal capital, was all the more an advantage beyond its potential. Initiated in 2005, it was not until the necessary investments were made and the authorization from the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) was obtained that the prospects now offered to this State with regard to the forthcoming opening of this airport is finally allowed. A long way that was well worth it.
By Stanislas Omotundé
