GMA AVIATION DESK, SEPTEMBER 2026

The Governor of Anambra State, Professor Charles Chukwuma Soludo has been urged to completely take responsibility for the perceived declining operational appeal and apparent underutilisation of the Chinua Achebe International Cargo Airport, Umueri. This was contained in a press statement by the African Writers Centre (AWC).

While the Soludo administration is investing energy and political capital in ambitious projects designed to attract investors, tourists and businesses into Anambra State, including the highly promoted Fun City, the state appears not to have given the same visible urgency to resolving the management, maintenance, accessibility and patronage challenges confronting its existing airport. That contradiction is becoming increasingly difficult to defend, stressed the statement signed by Amah Alphonsus Amaonye, the Director General of AWC.

The statement went on to state that “An airport is not merely a building where aircraft land and take off. It is an economic gateway. It is often the first physical experience an investor, tourist, business executive or returning Anambra citizen has of the state.

“Yet, rather than becoming a thriving commercial hub, Umueri Airport has continued to face concerns over low patronage, operational disruptions and weak development around its immediate environment.

“The consequences are visible: limited commercial activity, inadequate hospitality facilities around the airport and an environment that, to stranded passengers, can feel isolated and disconnected from the economic life of the state.

“During a recent Air Peace flight disruption on 26th August, 2026, passengers reportedly faced the additional difficulty of finding nearby accommodation after being stranded at night, an unacceptable situation for an airport expected to serve a major commercial state”, AWC informed in the statement.

Continuing, the AWC averred that “Governor Soludo should therefore be asking a more fundamental question: Why is an airport serving one of Nigeria’s most commercially mobile populations failing to generate the level of traffic, surrounding investment and economic activity that should ordinarily follow such infrastructure?

“Why are airlines and passengers not being aggressively encouraged to make Umueri a preferred gateway? Why has the state not publicly demonstrated a comprehensive programme to make the airport more competitive, more reliable and more attractive to both operators and travellers?

“The issue of airfare is particularly difficult to ignore. Travellers have repeatedly complained that flights into Anambra can be significantly more expensive than flights to comparable destinations such as Owerri, Asaba, Enugu and, depending on the route and time of booking, Lagos.

“The precise reasons for such price differences require a proper examination of airline operating costs, demand patterns, load factors, airport charges, operational risks and other commercial variables. But that is precisely why the Anambra State Government cannot afford to remain indifferent.

“If the state wants investors and tourists to fly directly into Anambra, it must understand why doing so is sometimes perceived as prohibitively expensive and determine what legitimate interventions can make the route more competitive.

“Some other governments in Nigeria have explored partnerships and incentive arrangements to encourage airlines to open or sustain strategic routes and increase passenger traffic. Anambra should at least examine whether carefully structured, transparent and commercially justifiable incentives could increase airline frequencies and make Umueri more competitive.

“Anambra is endowed with having indigenes who are frontliners in airline operations in Nigeria. The State can leverage on this and advance positive changes and improve activities at the Anambra Airport.

“The state cannot spend heavily promoting itself as an investment and tourism destination while appearing unconcerned that one of the principal gateways into that destination may be considered expensive, unreliable or unattractive by the very people it hopes to bring in”, said the statement.

There is also a deeper infrastructure question, emphasized the statement: “How can Anambra justify conversations about additional airports when the enormous potential of the existing Chinua Achebe International Cargo Airport has not been fully maximised? Before committing public resources to another airport project, the Soludo administration should first demonstrate how it intends to achieve optimal utilisation of the airport it already has.

“An airport operating below its potential should not be treated as a reason to build another airport; it should be treated as a management and economic challenge demanding immediate solutions.

“The deficiencies reportedly observed within the existing terminal further reinforce the urgency. The upper level, reportedly designed for arrival operations, is said not to be fully utilised, resulting in arrival and departure activities being concentrated on the ground floor.

“Concerns have also been raised about incomplete finishing and the functionality of air-conditioning systems. These issues should be subjected to an independent technical assessment. But if confirmed, they would raise uncomfortable questions about maintenance standards, facility management and whether the airport is delivering the level of comfort and functionality expected of a modern gateway.

“Governor Soludo is doing a great work in the state. He cannot build world-class destinations outside the airport, like the fun city, and other facilities and neglect the gateway through which the world is expected to enter and see these developments.

“Fun City may attract attention. Roads and new projects may generate headlines. But investors and tourists must first decide that Anambra is accessible, affordable and convenient to reach. If flights into the state remain expensive, operational disruptions persist, critical infrastructure repeatedly fails and passengers stranded at the airport find little supporting commercial or hospitality infrastructure nearby, competing destinations will continue to benefit”, continued the statement.

The AWC went on to state that the Umueri Airport crisis is therefore not merely a problem for airport management. It is increasingly becoming a test of Governor Soludo’s economic planning and leadership priorities, as he is a governor who has capacity to deliver on his priorities, said the statement.

The writers body called on the Governor to immediately commission a comprehensive review of the airport’s management, operating costs, airline charges, passenger traffic, ticket-price competitiveness, maintenance standards and surrounding economic development.

The review, according to AWC should compare the cost and frequency of flights into Anambra with comparable routes into Owerri, Asaba, Enugu and other relevant destinations and determine the real reasons for any significant disparities.

The statement further stated that “Anambra cannot afford an airport that people avoid, airlines struggle to operate from and investors hesitate to use. And Governor Soludo must answer the growing question: Will his administration continue to make projection about building new gateways while the gateway Anambra already has remains perceivably under-utilised, poorly run and repeatedly exposed by operational failures?