3 months ago
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As the governor of Bayelsa State, Douye Diri, and his cabinet converge in Cross River State for a retreat, the governorship candidate of the Labour Party in the 2023 governorship election, Udengs Eradiri, has shared his thoughts on the issue of the proposed purchase of an aircraft.
In a WhatsApp message on Monday titled Bayelsa Airline Brouhaha: My Thoughts, Udengs described an airline as a strategic investment aimed at putting to use the state-owned Bayelsa International Airport.
Diri’s social media handlers, including the Director General of New Media, Kolawole Oredipe, had posted the plan by the state government to procure the aircraft through the state-owned, Bayelsa Airport Limited, which drew mixed reactions from across the state and beyond.
Udengs stated: “The airline is a strategic investment for the state, especially when billions were spent to build an airport; it’s only logical that the airport is put to good use by expanding the investment with the establishment of our airline.
He, however, noted that for the airline to be operational, some foundational assets must be put in place before introducing the aeroplanes, such as registering an airline company and obtaining a commercial operational license.
Continuing on the foundational assets, Udengs said, “We build a hanger to house our planes or other planes for minor repairs and other hanger services. These are supposed to be preliminary works.
“We would have partnered with other airlines to establish the route just as Dana Air and Arik Air were used to establish the Uyo route before the introduction of Ibom Air and then the airline took over.”
“The terminal building needs to be rebuilt as a proper terminal to handle the volume of passengers the proposed airline will generate.”
He averred that from the steps taken by Akwa Ibom State, it could be easily predicted that the state was heading towards the establishment of the airline and urged the Bayelsa State government to do the same.
He expressed disappointment that “in the Bayelsa’s case, all these which are preliminary actions before the arrival of aeroplanes have not happened; so you give room for speculation, accusations and all manner of attacks on the governor, whereas the idea is good but the modus operandi is wrong.”
Udengs concluded, “Airplane is not a bad idea, but please revisit your approach and do what is necessary, otherwise Bayelsa planes will arrive and will be kept in Lagos or other airports where the infrastructure necessary for functionality of the airline is already established.”
