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From Priscilla Ediare, Ado-Ekiti
The Chief Executive Officer of United Nigeria Airline, Prof. Obiorah Okonkwo, has laid foundation for the construction of a health centre and solar-powered borehole in Aso-Ayegunle community, Ado-Ekiti, near Ekiti Agro-Allied International Cargo Airport.
He said the decision to construct the projects came after the company made inquiries on what it can do to impact the lives of residents living around the airport, and that the initiative was part of his Corporate Social Responsibility(CSR) to the people of the community and the state.
“We have just performed a ground breaking ceremony for community health centre and solar-powered borehole. This community (Aso-Ayegunle) is close to the airport and United Nigeria is the chosen carrier of the government of Ekiti State and the people of the state and we felt for that great gesture we came here to do our annual retreat at the beautiful Ikogosi Warm Spring Resort and that was my first time of going there and as part of our Corporate Social Responsibility activities, we decided not to come and go but to leave a footprint .
“So, we had to make inquiries from the government what we will do to be of impact to the people living around this airport community and they came back with a response that it could either be a community health centre or solar- powered borehole, but in our magnanimity we decided to choose the two of them and we have just laid the foundation of the health centre and we hope that the work will commence next week and by the special grace of God we will finish as soon as possible.
” As soon as is possible for the contractor we will be having the projects and the people of the community will be able to have a place they will access quick medical care and they can also come here to fetch water. They say water is life and good health is more important than anything. We are very happy for doing this.
” Yesterday, we were at Afe Babalola University, Ado-Ekiti (ABUAD) where we signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to partner with the engineering department to give annual internship programme to 20 students of the university. We don’t just do business, we believe in partnership for development. We have a mantra that we fly to unite. We are happy to be here and we are ready to be in other parts of Nigeria and have something that will unite us better.
“We express our gratitude to the Governor of the state, Governor Biodun Oyebanji, whose first action and decision to bring United Nigeria Airline as the official carrier and airline of Ekiti State, opened commercial flights to this beautiful airport. If they did not find us worthy to be the airline of choice for this state, we wouldn’t have thought of coming to Ekiti in the first place talk less of building these projects. My coming to Ekiti for the first time was with the inaugural flight. It was the governor’s initial action that triggered all these things that are coming.
“We appreciated the gesture and we started thinking of better ways to be closer to the community and pay back not only to the government of Ekiti State but also the people and we hope we will enjoy better relationship that will also be mutually beneficial in the future.”
In his charge to other well-meaning individuals and establishments in terms of CSR, Okonkwo said,” it good to pay back to communities. It is good to pay back to society and I am sure that a whole lot of other corporate entities in Nigeria are doing it already and very well. I will only tell them to continue doing it and those who have not seen the need to consider embarking in such a thing.
“And the government should make sure they work out a tax system whereby CSR communities should be a tax deductible expenses, if it remains so it will encourage a lot of people to reinvest their benefits or their revenues within the society, that will help also government efforts to bring about development and provision of infrastructure.”
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Ekiti State Governor, Biodun Oyebanji, represented by the Special Adviser on Tertiary Education, Prof. Akeem Azeez, said, “What we are witnessing today is an output of responsible and purposeful relationship, cooperation and synergy between a government that has purpose for his people and a responsible corporate organisation like United Nigeria Airline has demonstrated. It is part of what is expected of them as a Corporate Social Responsibility.
“They are barely six months operating in Ekiti State, but they have demonstrated their goodwill and large-heartedness by establishing this community health centre and I am also glad to know that they have even added provision of solar- powered borehole to the community for the benefit of our citizens here and I am very sure the people of the community are excited just like the government of Ekiti State is full of appreciation to this company for their commitment to this noble cause.”
Continuing, the Special Adviser said, ” The Governor Biodun Oyebanji administration has been doing its best to bring development even to the remotest parts of Ekiti State and this has been demonstrated in all numerous and monumental achievements of the state government.
” In the last three years about 103 community health centres have been renovated and equipped by the state government to ensure that people at the grassroots level are not left out of the developmental agenda of the state government. We understand there won’t be any development except that the citizens are healthy and today’s project squarely fits into this agenda that you are establishing a community health centre and I am even excited to know that a borehole has also been added to the project, so, we thank the founder of United Nigeria Airline, Prof. Obiorah Okonkwo.
” What we are witnessing today is the output of the dividends of a genuine partnership between corporate organisation and the state government.
” Prof. Obiorah Okonkwo, it
is possible that you just come here to do your business without having a reflection of what the community actually needs. You have actually demonstrated your kind heartedness and your sense of philosophist for which you are known for. You have demonstrated that you are not here for business but rather, you are here to make history in the developmental stride of this state and we are really excited for this relationship that has generated between your company and Ekiti State.The state governor is very happy and the people of the community are very happy for this gesture.
In his remarks,a leader of Aso-Ayegunle community, Peter Falade, said,
“This is unprecedented because no such thing has ever happened in this community. We are very grateful and we thank Prof. Obiorah Okonkwo for this initiative.
” We thank the state government and all those who supported this idea. If the airline had initiated the idea and you all had negated it we will not be here today for this ground breaking ceremony, so we thank you all for encouraging Prof. Okonkwo to construct these projects for us here .We are very grateful.”
Ekiti Agro-Allied International Cargo Airport commenced commercial flight operations on December 10, 2025 and United Nigeria Airline, was the airline of first choice to commence flight operations at the airport.
