A Promise Kept!

Six weeks after it was closed for extensive rehabilitation works, the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, on Tuesday reopened for business as an Ethiopian Airline plane was the first to touch down on the rehabilitated runway at exactly 12:05 pm.

The Abuja airport repairs were particularly a test case for the credibility of the Muhammadu Buhari administration. The proposal for the repair works which was going to see the airport shutdown for six weeks did not go down with a lot of people. And this was reflected in the heated debate it generated in the Senate. A majority of the lawmakers opposed it, citing different reasons, chief of which was the inconvenience it was meant to cause the users of the airport, including passengers.

But government stood its ground and promised to complete the repairs within the stipulated time, a position other concerned interests embraced at the end of the day. But not many believed the government and its familiar talks. At the end of the day, it was not business as usual. The federal government promised and delivered on its promise in record time.