IN the morning of Saturday 22nd February, I was on Air Peace “special” flight to Ekiti State airport, in Ado, the state capital. On the same flight was the airline’s owner, Dr. Allen Onyema as well as other prominent Nigerians who may not appreciate their names here. We all returned to Lagos the next day, though our return was initially scheduled for Saturday afternoon. Dr. Onyema and three other accomplished Nigerians were being honoris, celebrated by Federal University, Oye Ekiti and the ceremonials were timeously-managed by the school’s administrators, though same could not be said of the private reception hosted by Senator Ayo Arise, the man widely-acknowledged as FUOYE’s papa. By the time we departed the senator’s backyard after the delicious pounded yam meal, nature was already communicating inclemency. By the time we got to the airport Saturday evening, the weather had become completely dictatorial and the aircraft had to return to Lagos without us.
I smiled when I read Sahara reporters’ scoop on how Onyema and “his team”, were stranded in Ekiti after he had serenaded the Ekiti airport Saturday morning on arrival, as having one of the best runways in the world. Well, some journos must just make the news tastier with tatase {bell pepper}. I was on the flight because an inspirational Nigerian who has become a global citizen was also an awardee and I decided to honour him, then in his characteristic selfless doings, Onyema decided to donate an aircraft to take awardees and their well-wishers, from Lagos to Ekiti and back to Lagos.
Ekiti airport is beautiful, but this doesn’t mean accountability should not be demanded from those who handled it, including Kayode Fayemi, the former governor. About him, I should say this; Yoruba will always remind that iwa lewa {true comeliness is in eminent character}. It is now almost a unanimous verdict that he may be lacking greatly in comely character even if well-educated. But the airport he built is grandeur in comparison to state airports I have seen. The runway praised by Onyema is graceful in receiving landing and lifting aircraft. Some runways will remind you of the Ikire intersection of Lagos/Ibadan expressway where police, immigration, FRSC and NDLEA converge to extort. You can’t speed away. The gullies in the T-junction would see to that.
Before Governor Omituntun’s intervention, not even Ibadan indigenes were proud of the airport, though I do not know what it looks like now. I am from Osun and yet to visit the state airport, but my state would have done great, coming up with the standard of Ekiti’s. I used the restroom; neat and functional. Walls; beautifully-painted and roof of the building, very modern. The entrance; aesthetically framed. Those of us coming in contact with the airport for the first time, which was almost all of us, were pleasantly shocked, possibly due to the many negative reviews in the media, especially the frequent back-and-forth between Fayemi and Aare Afe Babalola over its completion. If the airport project looks doomed to the outside world, Fayemi and his poor relational will take 75 per cent of the blame. The rest should go to poor media messaging and projection. If I were part of the supervising ministry’s media team, I would have advised that the Saturday weather situation be quickly explained to the rest of the world, because there was no way it would not become an issue with the personalities onboard, including the aviation undisputed industry leader, Onyema and his aircraft. When newsmakers are in your backyard, you take care of their business alongside yours. Infact, their business becomes your business, though I must commend Ekiti State Government for truly making our “business” their business in the area of hospitality, from the moment we landed and how they widened their caring hearts when our return was shifted to the next day.
Of course, there is no way staying the night in government facility wont be much more different from any hotel, including a possibly 3-star stuff in Ekiti. And the pounded yam, may God bless those kitchen staff.
When we returned to the airport on Sunday, there was enough time to take the serene environment in. Definitely, I will like to be back at the airport and see what commercial flights would be like when such operation begins there. But some downsides were noticed. One, the departure hall, appeared not built for the future, with the limited space and seats. We even took the liberty of counting. For an “international” airport, though cargo themed, the projection should be futuristic enough to have bigger departure hall, with more seats. We also noticed the seats were Covid-compliant with someone joking if the makers were expecting the return of the dreaded affliction. Well, did someone just say that is being futuristic?
Again, wall charging ports which are just a few, are all that were provided for passengers in an age when everyone turns to phone relief during the constant grief of indiscriminate flight cancellations. That is so so yesterday as Gen-Z would say. Charging ports are now part of the seating arrangements in departure halls of thinking airports. You charge your phone by your side, not queueing by the wall socket. And to think the beautifully-fabricated seats were imported and someone must have checked the available options, before settling for what the world is leaving behind? What exactly is wrong with our mentality? Or is it still all about the greed which has become a creed in public office? Was someone trying to keep more by getting less for his/her people? I believe the state officials who supervised the project would have been presented with something more modern, but like our brothers from the East who are always accused of telling manufacturers in China to make their products sub-standard, Fayemi’s men went for the sub, but all is well.
Have I mentioned even the old government lodge being eclectic. Again, some of the visiting us, were shocked. Why were our expectations about the state and her government so low, beyond what Aare Afe is doing there; his university, his hospital, his farm, his industrial park, his this, his that. His presence used to be like an alternate government but now, he looks like the only real story from the state. It is incredible how one man is now obviously bigger than the state.
The closest to this scenario was another Aare, Arisekola Alao, lyrically lionised as half of Ibadan, arguably the largest city in Africa. For Ekiti first-termers in our team, it was Afe’s “kingdom” everyone was eager to see. That is the power of communication. Though the state is effectively under the shadow of her great son, Oyebanji;s administration, which I learnt is cool with the Baba unlike the truculent Fayemi’s, would have to further leverage this special gift of God to the state.
Have I mentioned the impressive growth of FUOYE in a few years of operation? For the over 8,000 students who graduated this year, those before them and those coming after, Arise has booked his place in their hearts. That is a lesson for those only greedy for gain. The former senator doesn’t look like someone with billions to move in bullion vans, but his legacy is settled in being FUOYE’s poster-dad. The Vice Chancellor testified that TETFUND has been of immense support. Its brilliant Executive Secretary, Echono Sunday was the guest lecturer. You wonder why his Benue State keeps coming up with scrappy governors. When he is done with helping Nigeria, he should consider helping his state. Now that we have made acquittance, I am going to keep drumming this in his ears.
Another wonderful Nigerian entrepreneur I related with in the course of the journey was Engineer Jani Ibrahim. Yes, the same LUBCON chairman and NACCIMA leader. No airs. He makes people relaxed in his presence. He is an example of how moneyed people should relate.
Then there was also Oga Dan Kunle, public and private sector guru. The man who brought everyone together will always want to stay out of the media, for good reasons.
Minus a couple of us, it was a trip of heavyweights in Allen’s heavyweight 737. Happy 61 in advance to the generous-hearted. Thank God those we didnt bid goodbye, didnt know where we went, except Omoyele Sowore’s SR. But I love the guy sha. Can FG also take care of its Ekiti roads. It’s a chaos.
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