NCAA denies certifying Ogun’s Gateway Airport for commercial use

The Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority has debunked the claim by the Ogun State Government, that a coalition of aviation regulators certified the state’s Gateway Airport.

A statement by the state government on Wednesday, titled “Aviation Regulatory Agencies Visit Ogun, Certify Gateway Airport for Commercial Operations” claimed that the NCAA, Nigerian Airspace Management Agency,  and Nigerian Meteorological Agency approved the airport for commercial use.

The same statement noted that the Senior Project Manager of Craneburg, the construction company handling the project, Nicolas Mfarrej, said the airport is about 98% ready to take off fully and begin to serve the interests of the state.

The government’s statement further noted, “In the same vein, the Consultant on regulatory matters to the Ogun State Governor, Eng Oluwole Adeyileka, explained that the key players in the regulation and monitoring of facilities for full airport operations had come to assess the level of readiness of the state, adding that it was noteworthy that they had been impressed by what the state had put in place at the airport.”

However, reacting in a telephone conversation with our correspondent on Wednesday, the spokesperson for the NCAA, Michael Achimugu, said the agency is unaware of any certification of the airport.

“The NCAA did not certify Ogun airport, what happened yesterday was not a certification exercise, it was an inspection of the ATC and aeronaut equipment and as per the application, they are still on step three out of five, so how could it have been certified yesterday?

“This is the position of the NCAA. We didn’t certify Ogun Airport”

Speaking with journalists in 2022 during a press briefing at the airport, the state Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Abdulwaheed Odusile, noted that construction work on its international cargo airport was being completed to enable the facility to commence operations before the end of 2022.

The following year, in an interview with The PUNCH, the state governor promised that the airport would commence commercial operations that year.

Also during his 2024 New Year message, the Abiodun administration promised that operations would commence at the airport in the first quarter of 2024.