Personal Experience: Arriving And Departing Abuja Airport During The Ongoing Closure Period

image: guardian.ng

I arrived Abuja Airport (Nnamdi Azikwe International Airport) on Thursday and departed Abuja Airport today. How was that possible? Isn't the airport closed?

This past Friday and Saturday were the dates for our quarterly Excel and Business Data Analysis training in Abuja. So I had to pack my bag and training materials on Thursday, and head to Abuja. I had booked a 9:00am flight to Kaduna as the Abuja Airport is closed for runway repairs. As expected, Air Peace was on time.

I got to Kaduna by 10:15am. And there the surprise came. At the arrival wing of the airport, there were airport officials directing us to free buses to Abuja. The Federal Government has provided buses to convey passengers freely from Kaduna to Abuja and vice-versa.

The only issue is that the buses will take you from Kaduna Airport straight to Abuja Airport, no stop along the way and accompanied by a Police escort van. Also they've been ordered to drive annoyingly slow.

In effect, I got to Abuja Airport on Thursday.

After the training class on Friday and Saturday, I had to catch my return flight today in Kaduna. I took a cab to Abuja Airport, went to the departure wing and just as if I was going to board a plane, my luggage was scanned. Only different bit was there were no airline ticketing stands but a bus stand where you write your name and flight details and are then directed to board the next available bus to Kaduna. Again, free of charge. With escort and driving at a speed that makes the two hours journey three hours.

The buses are from Chisco Transport Company. And they were just as comfortable as having a plane ride, if you ignore the speed which must have been a government directive. It made it obvious that our Igbo brothers are business geniuses.

I would want to encourage anyone wanting to buy a new car to check out Innoson. I am not saying this to give an emotional support for "Made In Nigeria" but because I have seen the high quality, almost non-Nigerian like, products/services our Igbo brothers create when they put their industrious mind to it.