The Governor of Edo State, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole says it will not be in the national interest to shut down the Benin Airport, which is the third most busy airport in the country. Rather, he expects the Ministry of Aviation to find a way to fix the Benin Airport that serves the entire eastern and southern parts of the country, as quickly as they can.


The governor who was re-acting to a statement credited to the Minister of Aviation, Hon. Babatunde Omotoba that the Benin Airport would soon be closed down to traffic on the basis of complaints from notable personalities in the state, stated that he should find a way to fix the airport and not to threaten to shut it down.


According to Comrade Adams Oshiomhole during an interview with newsmen at the Igbinedion University, Okada, what he expects the Minister for Aviation to say is that government may act and his business as a Minister is to make sure airports work, not to preside over their closures.


“The Minister should work to rebuild the airport. We must plan in advance, and whatever is not in place, he ought to forsee it and fix it, you do not wait for everything to pack up and you shut down an airport and cause social and economic dislocation”, he said, stressing that, “as Minister, his business is to make sure the airport is fixed”.


The governor further noted that in doing that the Minister should ensure that it creates minimum discomfort, because no agency should celebrate the shutting down of a major facility that will have profound impact on the social and economic life of a place.


“As the Minister and executive head of the ministry, he should not act on the basis of petition because government is not run on the basis of petitions but on the basis of what he knows. He is the head of that ministry and he should make sure he does not cause any disruption,” he added.


The Minister of Aviation, was quoted to have given the hints that the Benin Airport is now a subject of controversy because of complaint about so much noise from aircraft disturbing people in Benin.


“We have been talking to the appropriate authorities and I think what I am going to do is that I am going to shut the Benin Airport. While this controversy continues I am going to shut it down until we resolve. I can tell you that what makes Benin tick today is this airport. That is what makes Benin tick today, but I am going to shut it down maybe next week,” the Minister told journalists.

http://www.nigerianobservernews.com/07122009/news/news1.html

Benin can never be the 3rd most busy airport. It will not even be in the first 5 so Adams should talk another thing.

^^^^

And the minister should seek for a quick cure for his diarrhoa of the mouth,this was how he was talking bunkum about Akanu Ibiam airport in Enugu not having been upgraded to an international airport

which is the third most busy airport in the country.

busier than lagos,abuja,prt harcourt,enugu or kano. . .