Normal activities are gradually returning to the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja after days of low activities due to the Christmas and New Year festivities.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the Federal Government declared Monday, Dec. 25, Tuesday, Dec. 26 and Monday, Jan. 1 as public holidays for the Christmas, Boxing Day and New Year celebrations.
NAN reports that flight activities were at low ebb at the weekend thereby forcing many airlines to either cancel or delay flights because of dearth of passengers.
NAN correspondent who was at the airport on Tuesday, reports that flight announcements were made while a few passengers could be seen at the arrival and departure sections.
An official of the Airport who pleaded anonymity told NAN that the situation was more pronounced on Saturday, Sunday and Monday, adding that there was no 7 a.m. flight on Monday.
He said that the situation had yet improved as the traffic of passengers was still below average.
According to him, even though there was a 7 a.m. flight on Tuesday, many flights had few passengers between 20 and 30 onboard which is not a good deal for airlines.
“Arik and Air Peace are the airlines that landed and taken off with reasonable number of passengers but the rest of the airlines are struggling to have enough to board.
“It will normalise from today because the holiday is over and everybody is expected to their work and businesses,” he said.
Mr Abdulahi Saroke, Station Manager, Azman Air, said that traffic had yet to pick up since many people were yet to resume from Christmas and New Year holidays.
Saroke said the situation was also compounded by the prevailing bad weather conditions especially in the northern axis.
He said that flights to Maiduguri, Yola and Kano could not operate on Monday because of bad weather, adding that only Kano weather had improved as at Tuesday morning.
“As I speak with you, we can’t still process Yola, Maiduguri and Kaduna flights because the weather there is still bad.
“Apart from this, activities are still very low because I have not seen much of arrival from other places like Lagos, Port Harcourt and Enugu today.
“But I believe that things would get better later in the day because we expect many people to start moving massively from today,” he said.
A passenger, Mr Samuel Fanochi, said he arrived from Lagos where went to attend a wedding on Saturday, adding that he planned to return on Monday but his flight was cancelled for operational reasons.
Fanochi, a businessman, said he expected a prosperous and less turbulent 2018 while praying to God blessing upon Nigeria.
He called on leaders at all levels to think more about the masses in the New Year in order to eliminate hardship from the land.
“Like Mr President promised in his New Year broadcast yesterday, I urge him to walk his talk and ensure that every minister work hard to realise the plans.
“All governors should also stop playing politics with the lives of the citizens and assist the Federal Government in delivering those promises.
“It is my prayer that God should intervene in our political system and disgrace the enemies of Nigeria in 2018,” he said.
(NAN)