The South-East Governors’ Forum is urging President Muhammadu Buhari to delay the closure of Akanu Ibiam International Airport, Enugu till the end of October, to allow them to make adequate adjustments for airport users in the zone and do some corrective works at the airport.
Also, the governors asked the President to support their earlier recommendation banning herdsmen without cattle in the zone to eliminate the killing, maiming, raping, kidnapping and destruction of farmlands allegedly carried out by foreign herdsmen, with the backing of some compromised local herders.
The governors said they had written to the President to intervene in what they termed “the closure of the Enugu airport without giving us any time to make adequate security arrangement, the convenience of the people and visitors coming into the zone.”
In a letter by the chairman of the forum, David Umahi, who is the current Governor of Ebonyi State, the governors called on the President to direct the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria and the Federal Ministry of Transportation to provide immediate palliatives in the form of transport with armed escorts and helicopter services to prospective passengers from alternative airports that connected the zone.
The governors said the Federal Ministry of Works should work in collaboration with the forum to carry out palliative repairs on the major roads leading to the alternative airports as well as clear all the bushes along the routes for a better view of road users.
They also called for the provision of a 24-hour joint security patrol to ensure the safety of the people and visitors to the South-East, who might be using the roads day and night through the alternative airports.
