Nigeria does not need cargo airport — Captain Okakpu

                                                                                                                 By Moses Nosike

Captain John Okakpu weekend said Nigeria does not need cargo airports because the current trend in air transportation is that passenger’s planes now have enough room to carry both passengers and cargoes and so, building specially designated cargo airports is a waste of funds.

Captain Okakpu who is the MD/CEO of ABX World, an indigenous courier/cargo firm and agro-allied solutions provider, who has just joined Global Good Agricultural Practice (Global G.A.P), which sets worldwide standards for safe and sustainable agriculture, made this known during a 3-Day Training on local GAP Certification process in Lagos for young agricultural entrepreneurs drawn mostly from the South East geopolitical region of the country.
According to him, modern Boeing 777 planes can now carry passengers and also conveniently carry 30 tones of cargoes. He added that since Nigeria is a mono-economic country that exports mainly crude oil, which is done through sea, there is no economic sense in building cargoe airports that will never be fully utilised.
The idea of state governments building cargo airports is a waste of resources. He also pointed out that, “only Lagos and Kano airports are viable for cargo export. And these two airports are already designed to handle both passengers and cargo. Currently, most passengers planes from Europe and America that land in these airports most often go back empty with little cargo to carry.” He suggested that these two airports should be put to maximum use.