{"id":5332,"date":"2025-07-08T05:40:02","date_gmt":"2025-07-08T05:40:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/?p=5332"},"modified":"2025-07-08T05:42:01","modified_gmt":"2025-07-08T05:42:01","slug":"keyamo-inaugurates-enugu-air-lauds-mbahs-development-stride-says-he-will-be-hard-to-defeat-in-2027-poll","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/2025\/07\/08\/keyamo-inaugurates-enugu-air-lauds-mbahs-development-stride-says-he-will-be-hard-to-defeat-in-2027-poll\/","title":{"rendered":"Keyamo Inaugurates Enugu Air …..lauds Mbah’s developmental strides …Says he will be hard to defeat in 2027 poll\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"
al<\/div>\n
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By Our Correspondent<\/div>\n
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The\u00a0 Aviation Minister and Aerospace Development, Mr. Festus Keyamo, (SAN), on Monday, inaugurated Enugu Air, a state-owned commercial airline established by the Governor Peter Mbah Administration with three Embraer airplanes for a start.<\/div>\n
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While recalling Mbah\u2019s persistence and energy in bringing Enugu Air to reality, Keyamo described him as \u201can incredible, performing governor\u201d, noting that it would be difficult to defeat him in 2027, given the level of work he had done in just two years.<\/div>\n
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This was even as governor Mbah described the feat as a triumph of vision, and the beginning of Enugu\u2019s journey to becoming a major aviation hub.<\/div>\n
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\u201cGovernor Peter Mbah was the first governor that visited me immediately I was sworn in as a Minister. I said this man will not even allow me to settle down first. The governor was relentless, persistent and pushing to the extent that I asked, this private sector experience you are bringing into Enugu, do you want Enugu to explode?<\/div>\n
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\u201cIt was incredible. He was not even waiting for us to come to him. Dr. Peter Mbah was coming to Abuja almost every week to press the button to make sure that a couple of things happen and this (launch of Enugu Air) is just one of them,\u201d he said.<\/div>\n
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He commended the state\u2019s choice of XEJet as partner and operator of Enugu Air, describing XEJet as a highly competent and 100 per cent Nigeria-owned key player in the nation\u2019s and Africa\u2019s aviation industry.<\/div>\n
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\u201cXEJet is not only supporting Enugu Air, it is running the Sierra Leonean National Airline. That is what the Renewed Hope Agenda is all about,\u201d he stated.<\/div>\n
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The minister dismissed the misgivings over federal government\u2019s plan to concession the Akanu Ibiam International Airport, AIIA, and lauded Mbah\u2019s strenuous effort towards to ensure the imminent completion and operationalisation of the airport.<\/div>\n
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\u201cHe also came back to us and said, \u2018look, I want to attract private sector investment into Enugu Airport. I will not wait for beaurocracy to run this airport for the good of Enugu people. The pace of development is too slow.\u2019<\/div>\n
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\u201cI said, \u2018Your Excellency, just finish the Enugu Air first.\u2019 He said no. As I speak to you, in the next few months, and few years, Enugu Airport will not be what you see here today. Private sector is coming into Enugu Airport, driven by the governor.<\/div>\n
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\u201cWe are running the airport at a loss because we don’t have the drive of the private sector. But Enugu will be a bigger international hub now and we are going to approve regional operations from here to African States. Bring your letter tomorrow we will approve it,\u201d Keyamo stated.<\/div>\n
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He said that despite being of a different political party from the governor, he could not hide the fact that the governor had performed and would be difficult to defeat in any election.<\/div>\n
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\u201cDr. Peter Mbah, you are a PDP, but we are afraid of you. The way you are going, we don\u2019t know what will happen. We don’t know how to draw a scheme to defeat you, but we will be planning.<\/div>\n
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\u201cIt is an incredible vision you have here. Mr. President has said it himself. I am only reflecting what the president said.<\/div>\n
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\u201cBeyond party lines, we should not be afraid to say it. You have a progressive spirit and you have done well for Enugu State. You are one of the best performing governors,\u201d he said.<\/div>\n
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He urged the governor and the CEO of Enugu Air to ensure that the airline was run professionally like a business, while also urging the people of Enugu State to patronise their own aircraft.<\/div>\n
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Speaking, Governor Mbah described the launch of Enugu Air as \u201ca triumph of vision, a testament to Nigeria\u2019s immense aviation potential and economic renaissance.\u201d<\/div>\n
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He explained that Enugu Air would expand beyong the present routes to various other Nigerian cities and beyond.<\/div>\n
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\u201cWe are starting off with three Embraer aircraft \u2013 efficient elegant birds made for our terrain. Our routes begin with a powerful golden triangle: Enugu to Abuja to Lagos. From there, we stretch our wings to Port Harcourt, Owerri, Benin, Kano, and across various other cities.<\/div>\n
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\u201cBut we are not stopping there. In the next phase, we will fly beyond Nigeria, into other African countries, China, Europe, UK, US, and other global business hubs,\u201d Mbah said.<\/div>\n
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He said that Enugu Air was established to create jobs and career paths for the young people; a faster and more reliable access to markets, clients, and capita by business people; a simpler and more dignified access to home for the diaspora, and a ready gateway to collaboration and opportunity for investors interested in Enugu.<\/div>\n
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He thanked President Bola Tinubu, Keyamo, and various agencies under the Ministry of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Fidelity Bank, among others, for their great support towards the realisation of the state carrier.<\/div>\n
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Earlier, Enugu State Commissioner for Transportation, Dr. Obi Ozor, assured that Enugu Air would live up to its dream.<\/div>\n
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The Managing Director of Fidelity Bank PLC, Dr. Nneka Onyeali-Ikpe, and the CEO of XEJet, Engr. Ayuba Emmanuel, described Mbah as a visionary and courageous leader and assured the state of their continued partnership to actualise his dreams for the state.<\/div>\n
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The event witnessed a large turnout of Enugu people and was graced by many dignitaries, including the Speaker of Enugu State House of Assembly, Hon. Uchenna Ugwu.<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

al By Our Correspondent The\u00a0 Aviation Minister and Aerospace Development, Mr. Festus Keyamo, (SAN), on Monday, inaugurated Enugu Air, a state-owned commercial airline established by the Governor Peter Mbah Administration with three Embraer airplanes for a start. While recalling Mbah\u2019s persistence and energy in bringing Enugu Air to reality, Keyamo described him as \u201can incredible, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1176,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[3463,3464,1918,160,1595,3465],"class_list":["post-5332","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics","tag-aerospace","tag-beaurocracy","tag-courageous","tag-development","tag-dignitaries","tag-visionary"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5332","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5332"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5332\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5335,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5332\/revisions\/5335"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1176"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5332"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5332"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5332"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}