President Muhammadu Buhari commissioned the new international terminal at Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, on 20 December 2018, formally opening a facility built to process up to 15 million passengers a year. The $600 million terminal was financed through a $500 million loan from China's Exim Bank alongside $100 million in Nigerian counterpart funding, according to Minister of State for Aviation Hadi Sirika, with a further $400 million in additional costs disclosed earlier in the year.
Second of Four Terminals Under the China Exim Loan
The Abuja commissioning came less than two months after Buhari opened a similarly funded new terminal at Port Harcourt International Airport on 25 October 2018, part of a four-city terminal programme covering Lagos, Kano, Port Harcourt and Abuja and built by the China Civil Engineering and Construction Corporation. Speaking at the ceremony, Buhari said the government remained committed to developing Nigeria into a regional aviation hub.
Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria managing director Saleh Dunoma said the terminal would offer passengers a markedly higher standard of safety, facilitation and comfort than the ageing facility it replaced, and that more international carriers were expected to relocate their operations there in the following months. The new building was also the first airport terminal in the country to be directly linked to a rail transit system, connecting to Abuja's city metro line.
Asky Airlines First to Move In
Asky Airlines became the first carrier to operate from the new terminal, landing a Boeing 737-700 carrying 91 passengers and crew shortly after commissioning. Airport manager Sani Mahmud said the milestone had been years in the making, thanking the stakeholders who helped bring flight operations into the new facility "as you can see, all the agencies are on ground for international operations."