By Matthew Ajai-Kume
Governor Samuel Ortom has said, the commencement of Air Peace flight services at Makurdi Airport in the capital of Benue State, is an added advantage to social and economic development of the state.
The Benue State Governor disclosed this Monday, during the flag-off of the Air Peace commercial flights in Makurdi at the Nigerian Air Force Airport, Makurdi.
He expressed appreciation to God, the Nigerian Air Force authority and Air Peace Management for the partnership, which he noted, has made possible the actualisation of the commencement of flight services from Makurdi to Abuja, Makurdi to Lagos and vice versa.
“This partnership with Air Peace shall open direct foreign investment and provide access to commercial and other economic activities,” he stated.
Governor Ortom maintained that, the feat by the partnership, would lead to the employment of many graduates from the state, even as he assured the management of Air Peace, of his administration’s readiness to sustain the relationship for effective services.
Also speaking, the Minister of Special Duties and Intergovernmental Affairs, Dr George Akume who was on ground to take the Makurdi to Abuja flight, applauded the efforts of Governor Ortom, for the commencement of commercial flight at the Makurdi Airport.
“This is the day, the Almighty God has made in the past attempt we have made to ensure regular flights into Benue State, to enhance economic activities, unfortunately, non of the attempts were successful, but today, is the realisation of the long dream of the commencement of flight into Benue State, let me give credit to Governor Ortom for making it feasible,” he said.
The minister thanked the management of Air Peace for the feat, while he called on them to sustain the tempo.
In his remark, the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Air Peace, Barr Allen Onyema, represented by the Manager, Ground Operation, Air Peace, Mr Adeyemi Ayodeji, said the commencement of the Air Peace flight services to Makurdi is a historic feat as no airline, currently operates commercial flights from Lagos or Abuja into Makurdi.
Barr Onyema stated that, the Makurdi route has been on their radar for quite a while, adding that, the state government and Air Peace Management has signed a Memorandum Of Understanding while he assured of working in accordance with the agreement.
In his words: “The decision to extend our wings to Makurdi was borne out of persisting original vision to inter-connect various cities across Nigeria, thereby fostering unity and promoting impactful economic relations.”
He maintained that, the Makurdi route has been on popular demand by Nigerians and as a socially sensitive and responsible airline, they consider Makurdi as one of the strategic way of expanding their services to provide immense value to Nigerians and people of Benue State in particular.
Barr Onyema explained that, the disciplined route planning and expansion is driven by the management on ” No-City-Left-Behind ” initiative, noting that its ambition is to drastically reduce the air travel burden of Nigerians, while he expressed the management’s readiness to give more employment to people of Benue State and appealed to stakeholders and all to cooperate with the company to succeed.
In a chat with The Voice, some of the passengers that were lifted from Abuja to Makurdi, Prof. Rufus Shaato and David Mojekwu, lauded Governor Ortom for ensuring the peace of the people of the state, while they commended the Air Peace management for commencing commercial flight into Makurdi.
They appealed to the management to sustain the efforts, to make the flight a daily routine, rather than thrice a week.
The schedule for the Air Peace flight services is Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.
