06/04/2026
AN INTERNATIONAL CARGO AIRPORT IN ABIA, A NECESSITY LONG OVERDUE
There comes a time in the life of a people when silence becomes complicity, when refusal to speak emboldens mediocrity, and when logic must rise to confront noise. That time is now.
The argument making the rounds, that Owerri Airport is about one hour from Aba and roughly fifty minutes from Umuahia, and therefore negates the need for an airport in Abia State, is not only shallow, it is dangerously myopic. It is the kind of thinking that has held regions down for decades, a mindset that confuses proximity with sufficiency, and convenience with development.
Let us begin from first principles. Development is not built on managing limitations, it is built on expanding possibilities.
Alex Otti is absolutely right to conceive, nurture, and pursue the establishment of an international cargo airport in Abia. This is not a vanity project. It is not political decoration. It is a strategic economic intervention, long overdue.
Aba is not just another city. Aba is a commercial nerve center, a production powerhouse, a marketplace of ideas, goods, and enterprise. From leather works to garments, from fabrication to indigenous innovation, Aba feeds markets far beyond the South East. It is one of Nigeria’s most vibrant industrial ecosystems. Yet, it operates without a direct aviation infrastructure that reflects its economic weight.
This is not just an oversight, it is an injustice.
A serious commercial hub must have a logistics backbone that supports its scale. Roads alone cannot carry the burden of modern commerce. An international cargo airport is not a luxury for Aba, it is an economic necessity. It will unlock export potential, reduce transportation delays, attract foreign investment, and position Abia as a critical node in global trade networks.
Those who argue that nearby airports in Owerri, Enugu, and Port Harcourt are sufficient miss the point entirely. Infrastructure is not about “managing with what is nearby,” it is about building what directly serves your economic reality. No thriving commercial hub in the world outsources its logistics lifeline to neighboring states.
Even more laughable is the argument that aircraft will collide in the air because of proximity between airports. This is not just incorrect, it is embarrassingly uninformed. Aviation is governed by strict international protocols, coordinated airspaces, and highly trained air traffic control systems. Around the world, multiple airports operate within close geographical ranges without incident. Airspace management is a science, not guesswork. No professional in aviation has raised such a concern, because it simply does not exist.
To propagate such an argument is to advertise ignorance with confidence.
Beyond economics and logistics lies something even more fundamental, dignity.
Abia people deserve the right to depart from anywhere in the world and land directly in their own state. This is not an unreasonable demand. It is not excessive ambition. It is a basic expectation of identity, belonging, and progress. To deny a people this on the altar of political pettiness or intellectual laziness is unjust.
What Alex Otti envisions is not just an airport, but a standard. A facility that will be properly managed, globally competitive, and a source of pride to Ndi Abia. For once, there is a deliberate attempt to align infrastructure with economic reality, and it deserves support, not sabotage.
History will not remember those who argued against progress with recycled excuses. It will remember those who saw the future and chose to build it.
An international cargo airport in Abia is not a debate. It is a necessity whose time has come, and whose delay has already cost too much.
Let it rise.
Nze Ukwu Ugezu J. Ugezu Writes
Ayaka Igbo Gburugburu
