Maiduguri — The Yobe State Government will soon award the contract for the construction of the first ever cargo airport in northern Nigeria.

The state Commissioner of Works, Transport and Energy, Mr. Sirajo Wakil, revealed this in Damaturu yesterday.

He said the airport which will be for ticketing as well as for cargo will be located in Damaturu, the state capital.

He lamented that the state is the only state among the 19 northern states in the country without an airport.

He said when constructed, it will be the first of its kind in the North, insisting that it was lamentable that in the whole of the North; there is no state with a cargo airport.

He disclosed that most airports in the North are not commercially viable at present since they are operated on the basis of ticketing which ordinarily cannot sustain the survival of any airport.

Wakil said the cargo airport would facilitate export of meat, dairy products, Arabic gum, among others which would be source of foreign exchange to the state.

The commissioner disclosed that regulatory agencies like the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NAMA), Nigerian Metrological Agency and the Ministry of Aviation had visited the state for the feasibility survey of the propose airport and had all certified the award of the contract.

He promised that the Gaidam administration will complete all the ongoing road projects across the state despite the hard economic situation.