Governor Ayade excited as Obudu international Cargo Airport, Cally Air will bolster Cross River economy

Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

By Akpan David, Calabar

The Governor of Cross River State, Professor Benedict Ayade has expressed excitement that the state owned Cally Air and the ongoing construction of Obudu International Cargo and Passenger Airport collectively boost the haggard economy of the state.

He said both cost-intensive projects are in addition to his many industries he is building in different parts of the state which will launch the state into the first league of industrialised states in the country.

He spoke in Calabar when he remarked about ongoing recruitment of personnel exercise for Cally Air as well as the arrival of the second Boeing 737 aircraft for he state airline.

Cally Air will ply the Abuja-Calabar–Abuja and Calabar-Lagos-Calabar routes.

Ayade said both projects are primed to change the sordid economic narrative of the state by revving up its tourism potentials.

“The Cally Air, which is owned by Cross River, is completely set up to drive traffic into the State. If you take Emirates out of Dubai, you will have no Dubai, therefore we must understand the fact that logistics is key in today’s world. No matter how much you want to depend on a digital world, some physical movement remains imperative.”

The Obudu Airport, Ayade, noted, is a vital life wire for the Obudu cattle ranch “because it is obvious that the facility has the capacity to meet Nigerians’ tourism needs, that’s why we need to create higher footfalls and densification for the Ranch.

“To achieve this, access is critical. You cannot have access to Obudu Cattle Ranch even if you were to come in from Lagos for example. You will have to land in Calabar and then you have to deal with six hours of travel time to get to the Ranch which is quite discouraging.

“Tourism actually cannot be tolerated, tourism is pleasure. When it becomes tolerance it becomes torture. So we needed to deal with the access because even if I have to put gold in the Ranch nobody will come unless the access to the Ranch is very convenient.”

Beyond increasing footfalls to the Ranch, Ayade said the main objective of the airport is “to create an industrialization process that will give every industry in the state an export potential. You have to invest in naira and earn in dollar for this economy, this country to grow.”