PRESS RELEASE
Last week, in the determined and focused commitment to ensuring that our deliverables across sectors of the Arise Agenda are achieved within specified timelines, His Excellency, Pastor Umo Eno, Ph.D, Governor of Akwa Ibom State, having fulfilled all expected obligations, had given an ultimatum to the Senior Special Assistant/Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Uwem Ekanem, and indeed the Board of Ibom Airport Development Company to ensure the full restoration of the airfield lighting system at the Victor Attah International Airport, with a deadline of compliance set for September 30, 2025.
His Excellency, Governor Umo Eno, Ph.D, is pleased and congratulates the MD/CEO, Mr. Uwem Ekanem, the staff, and the Board for rising to the occasion and getting the job done within the specified timeline.
With the successful calibration and overhaul of the navigational aids and the restoration of the lighting systems at the Victor Attah International Airport, the sunrise-to-sunset restrictions previously imposed have been lifted. Night flight operations, therefore, at the airport, have been restored with immediate effect.
Governor Umo Eno, Ph.D, is deeply appreciative of the role the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA) has played in ensuring the successful completion of this exercise.
Government will continue to inject funds to ensure that our MRO, the international terminal, and all other ongoing projects within the aviation ecosystem become operational as the Yuletide season dawns.
Tourism remains a major plank of the Arise Agenda, and with the planned commissioning of the Arise Resorts, easily the best family-themed resort in the nation billed for December this year, and other ongoing works within the tourism sector, the restoration of night flight operations will ensure unhindered flight operations by our flagship airline, Ibom Air, in and out of the state by tourists and other visitors.
Akwa Ibom indeed is being primed as the tourism haven of our nation and a future with or without oil.
Ekerete Udoh
Chief Press Secretary to the Governor
October 1, 2025
