Plateau inaugurates committee to upgrade Yakubu Gowon airport

The Plateau State Government is taking a decisive step to revitalize the Yakubu Gowon Airport by inaugurating a private sector-driven technical committee. This initiative is paramount to our vision of transforming Plateau into a leading hub for agro-exports and tourism. The upgrade is directly linked to the success of ongoing investments, such as the African Development Bank-funded Special Agro-Processing Zone (SAPZ), which necessitates an airport capable of handling increased goods and passenger traffic.

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The SAPZ is designed to boost the export of our agricultural products. We therefore need an airport that can support those services, given the expected influx of goods and passengers.

Our administration recognizes that an efficient airport is indispensable for supporting the SAPZ and the burgeoning tourism sector, which is expanding through Public-Private Partnerships. Secretary to the State Government, Samuel Jatau, emphasized the urgency, tasking the committee to commence work immediately and deliver recommendations within two months. This timeline reflects our commitment to accelerating the airport's development and ensuring it meets the demands of our growing economy.

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The state’s tourism sector is also expanding through Public-Private Partnership arrangements, making it imperative to strengthen transportation infrastructure.

The Commissioner for Transport, Davou Jatau, highlighted the critical role the airport's revamp plays in addressing longstanding agricultural off-take challenges. Despite Plateau's high agricultural productivity, a lack of adequate logistics infrastructure has hampered our ability to move produce to local and international markets. The airport's aging runway and poor infrastructure have historically limited our export potential, leaving farmers with bumper harvests but limited market access.

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Revamping the airport infrastructure is key to addressing longstanding agricultural off-take challenges in the state.

This new committee harmonizes previous efforts and aims to expedite the airport's upgrade into a cargo hub, aligning with a prior Memorandum of Understanding with the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria. Chairman of the Committee, Kudla Satumari, expressed confidence in the team's expertise, assuring a professional and transparent execution of the assignment. This concerted effort signifies our dedication to unlocking Plateau's economic potential through improved infrastructure.

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Despite being an agrarian state with high productivity, lacks the logistics framework to move produce to both local and international markets.