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By Chinelo Obogo
For years, the once-bustling Trans-Saharan trade routes linking Nigeria to Chad, Cameroon and Niger faded into history. But now, the Maiduguri International Airport, having been remodelled, is positioning itself as the gateway to rekindle that ancient economic lifeline.
In this interview, the Terminal Manager of the airport, Ibrahim Bello speaks on plans to restore cross-border connectivity, boost regional commerce and reposition Borno as a hub for trade and travel in the Sahel.
He said the airport targets smaller aircraft like Embraer or Bombardier for regional routes and ultimately revive trans-Saharan trade connections.
Upgraded facilities
We have check-in counters which are digital. We are moving away from the analog counters as we have in the old domestic terminal. These new ones have the weighing scale attached to it, so you don’t need to have the weighing scale separate and the counter separately. The upgraded terminal facility has a passenger holding capacity of close to 500, which is better than what we have already, which is close to less than 300 passengers. If we have more than one airline operating, we would not have any issue or constraint in terms of facilities and equipment.
Airport operations
Maiduguri has non-scheduled operators, which are United Nations Humanitarian Air Services and World Food Programme. Then we have Doctors Without Borders. We have the International Community of Red Cross. They also schedule non-commercial flights. We have the helicopter services here, global helicopters. In a day, we will have like five helicopter movements. So there is a lot of traffic in Maiduguri. It is also strategically situated and has advantages that airlines can explore. It is the only airport that has borders with three countries, that is Chad, Cameroon and Niger. It has the strategic advantage more than any other airport in the country, which gives us an edge. So, at FAAN, this is what we are looking at. We are taking it up with our headquarters to see how we can harness this opportunity.
Passenger traffic for international flight operations
This airport is more like a hub and once the international operation starts, we may start with the regional flight. We can have flights to N’Djamena, Cameroon and Niger as well. These are border countries, bordering Nigeria through Maiduguri, so this regional hub can be extended into international routes as well. We have been doing the route analysis for quite a while now, and it’s proven to be something that would work. We can have a flight, maybe, Maiduguri and N’Djamena then we can extend it to start from Kano, Kano-Maiduguri and N’Djamena, then Maiduguri-Kano. This has been a well-established route since the trans-Saharan trade. It can be reactivated. We are in discussions with some airlines. We have one of our operators here that has shown interest and has done its own route analysis. We have been talking about it for years. Even recently, one of them called me and we had some discussion.
Cargo
There is a lot of cargo traffic here in terms of livestock and foodstuff as well. As I mentioned, the trade routes from Maiduguri, N’Djamena, Cameroon, and Niger have a lot of cargo advantages that can be enhanced. Just recently, somebody from the Ministry of Livestock came and we were having some discussions with them on how to make that possible. The state government has some reach outside the country. Both Yobe and Maiduguri have their own reach outside the country and they are talking to some investors to come and see the potential here. And also, a lot of cargo potentials are here.
Projected passenger traffic
During the route analysis at our own level here, we went as far as going into town to see the car parks where passengers are loaded in the buses going to Chad and other neighboring states. What we found out is not everybody that uses buses can afford flying, but when the aircraft is available, somebody will look at that as an advantage. So, we have a considerable amount of traffic here. Maybe not necessarily a Boeing 737, but a smaller aircraft like the Embraer or the Bombardier.
How Maiduguri benefits from Hajj operation
I would say that we did excellently well, because this is one of the airports that do not have a Hajj terminal. We have the terminal, but due to the insurgency, it was overtaken by the military. So, we usually co-locate our operations, both domestic and hajj operations, in one terminal and this usually gives us a serious challenge. But, thank God, with the help of FAAN management, we are able to navigate through. Since I came here, we have had two hajj operations and this is what we usually have, because the two states operating here, Yobe and Borno have a large number of pilgrims. So just imagine having your domestic operation and doing it alongside. Sometimes we have two or three domestic operations. It has been really challenging but we are able to navigate through. We had two carriers operating for the Hajj operation, one for Yobe and one for Maiduguri and with the support of FAAN management; we were able to do the operation seamlessly.
Security
We have a very good relationship with all the security agencies. The first time the minister came; all their representatives came as well, so we sat down and analysed what we have on ground, and everybody went back and came up with their own implementation plan. We have very good security layers here. We have the airport, the strike group and we have the air force facilities all around us. Then we have the civilians. We have a lot of strong military and security presence here. We don’t have any issues.
