By FOLA AKINKUOTU

THE  departure of Princess Stella Oduah as the Aviation Minister brings to a screeching halt one of the most controversial careers in Nigerian public service.

As the dust begins to settle, it is fitting to x-ray her services to Nigerian aviation in the context of one project that was not only special to the former minister but would have had far-reaching impact on infrastructure and the conduct of aviation business in Nigeria. It is one of her least known but most ambitious dreams, which could be realised just because she had the good sense and prescience to put the right minds in place to manage it.

Princess Oduah was the spearhead of the drive to remodel 12 airports in the first phase of a major infrastructure upgrade. It is tempting to think that this may be her legacy. By all means she deserves full credit for remodeling the airports; this is a valid achievement, especially in an industry where previous ministers tended to underperform.

MMA’s Terminal 1, once known as GAT, was taken down and rebuilt from the scratch. It was opened to passengers in 2012. The terminal building of the MMIA has been given an extensive makeover.. Both fingers have been extended to create more space, improving the passenger experience. With great help from the Chinese, government is building brand new international terminals at four airports across the country.

But on its own, refurbishing airports or even building new ones may no longer rank as such an extraordinary feat.  It pales into second best, especially where the word Aerotropolis is mentioned. Aerotropolis loosely means airport city. According to John D. Kasarda, the apostle and acknowledged developer of the concept, aerotropolis is a “new urban development form comprising aviation-intensive businesses and related enterprises extending up to 25 kilometers outward from major airports.” Kasarda, who is the Director, Center for Air Commerce, University of North Carolina, believes the cities that will thrive in the 21st century are the ones that put airports at their centre.

His widely quoted words: “Airports will shape economic activity and urban development in the 21st century as much as highways did in the 20th century, railroads in the 19th, and seaports in the 18th.”

As a business model, aerotropolis must have value, air connectivity, urbanisation and local accessibility. The numbers are irresistible:  there are  seven times more high value job growth in Aerotropolis than traditional downtowns; 3000 jobs  are directly and indirectly supported by each regularly scheduled long haul service; 10 percent passenger volume increase results in 2 percent regional job growth while 1 in 6 people live within 20 minutes of an airport in developed countries.

In Europe, the United States and lately some Asian Tigers, aerotropolis is not just a concept; it is a reality. Calling her project Aerotropolis Nigeria, Oduah had wanted it to also be a reality in Nigeria. Was this merely wishful thinking or a dream?

Observers believe it was more than wishful thinking. A few facts bear this out.

Aerotropolis is an important part of the former minister’s Aviation Master Plan, which incorporates an extensive airport remodeling programme, the establishment of 13 cargo terminals, some of them designated for perishable goods. Days before she was sacked, Oduah laid the foundation in Asaba for one of such terminals. A manager has been appointed to bring Aerotropolis Nigeria from the drawing board to reality. To drive the high airfreight content of the project, she appointed a director of cargo services (Uchenna Ofulue) for the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria,  FAAN.

Special publications touting the concept, “From Airport Cities to Aerotropolis” are in circulation complete with a website.

Commercial hubs such as Lagos, Abuja,

Kano and Port Harcourt were designated as the first hosts of the aerotropolis. The idea is to improve infrastructure in and around the selected airports and systematically encourage the development of businesses and related ventures around them. As conceived by Oduah, Aerotropolis Nigerian would evolve from “Airport to Airport City and then to Aerotropolis”; it would be in two phases and driven by the private sector with huge government support. It would also generate massive  investment opportunities for local and foreign businesses.

The former minister was also eager to learn about the business model. Nigeria made a strong showing at the 13th Airport Cities World Conference and Exhibition, ACE, in the City of Ekurhuleni, South Africa in 2013. (Malaysia is hosting this year’s edition of the conference)

Other countries have turned what was once a conference topic into successful business models. For example,  Amesterdam’s Schipol Airport is believed to be the world’s first airport city with more than 58,000 people working daily within the airport grounds. Its  modern transport hub integrates people and businesses, logistics and shops, information and entertainment.

Munich Airport has a full-service hospital, a full-service grocery store, two bakeries, a swimming pool and spa, a microbrewery and a huge, open-air covered forum that serves as a concert venue. It employs well over 30, 000 people.

The famous Rijksmuseum exhibits art in Amsterdam’s Schiphol while the London Philharmonic Orchestra performs at Heathrow. Even Dubai is fondly described as an “airport with an emirate attached.”

If Aerotropolis Nigeria and the airport remodeling programme are sustained as envisioned by Oduah, it could safely affirm her legacy as a visionary for an industry that is in dire need of one.

The good news is that even in Oduah’s rather stormy exit, the industry would remain in safe hands – all by her design. She left behind a crop of technocrats who could effectively mann the critical systems such as FAAN, Nigerian Airspace Management Agency, NAMA and the Nigerian Civil Aviation Agency, NCAA.