LAGOS - Following efforts made by the governor of Kwara State, Bukola Saraki to start a cargo airport at the Ilorin Airport, the governor has notified that his management was almost through on the project which he said would be completed by December.
Addressing newsmen at the Presidential Wing of the Murtala Muhammed Airport, Lagos, Saraki said that the airport was aimed to serve as alternative to Lagos and expressed hope that the objective of the airport would be realized so that the state could recoup what it has invested in the project.
He dismissed insinuations that the airport would not be profitable because of its proximity to Lagos, saying that the state has already started attracting airlines that would operate from the airport.
According to him; “You know, we are almost through on two projects: one is the cargo airport project that we hope to complete by December and it will give us the most modern cargo facility in the country adequate for cold storage and we hope that that will stimulate 52 percent of goods that are not destined for Lagos that come through Lagos.Already, we have started discussing and we have the most modern facility around and our rates will be lower and we believe that turn around time will be higher and there is too much congestion here in Lagos because of the work load and all.”
Saraki noted that another advantage the state had is the fact that it had concluded plans to build aviation college for manpower development, disclosing that Kwara will sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with United Arab Emirates (UAE) aviation school for technical support for the growth of the new college.
“We have started Aviation College. On Wednesday,(yesterday) we are signing the agreement, Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Chief Executive of Horizon Aviation from UAE at 12o’clock in Ilorin. We believe that with that we will start the construction of the school and we believe that that will be a great stimulus to the aviation sector as you know, we also have a lot of Nigerians who are pilots and I believe that by the time we start, we crash the rate they will come, stay here in Nigeria instead of going abroad, because the cost of training will be cheaper for them,” he stated.
The governor hinted that Horizon Today was one of the fastest growing schools in the world saying that the state’s own will be a very private and public sector partnership which to him is
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