DISCOVER NIGERIA: Sam Mbakwe International Cargo Airport

A TESTAMENT TO THE POWER OF COMMUNAL EFFORTS By Nehi Igbinijesu. It is an awesome thing when people do not blame government for every disadvantage experienced in day-to-day living. More laudable about this kind of attitude is the fact that it implies that such people can take the initiative to do for country what country has not done for them. Albeit, Nigeria will be the place we make it. I never once could verify the story I am about to tell but who cares- its lesson is more valuable to our thinking as Nigerians. More importantly, I want to believe in its veracity as such stories are capable of projecting us in a far better light than many would like to agree. A colleague of mine and I were visiting Owerri. It was my first time travelling via the Sam Mbakwe International Cargo Airport. And being an exceptionally curious fellow, I asked a lot of questions of my companion, Chijioke, who was more than amiable enough to answer them as candidly as he could. He told me that the airport was built sometime in the 1980s through contributions from private citizens. He recalled having asked his parents from time to time for money to donate toward the completion of the airport even as they themselves made contributions through their social groups. Apparently, the Igbos had felt marginalized at the distribution of airports across the country and, had decided to build their own airport.