Odimmegwa Johnpeter/Abuja
The Federal Government has moved to correct what it considers a longstanding identity problem surrounding Osubi Airport in Delta State, with the Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo, formally asking the International Air Transport Association to review the airport’s existing three-letter code, QRW.
The request, according to a statement issued on Monday by the Minister’s media aide, Tunde Moshood, is aimed at securing a code that more accurately reflects the airport’s official name and its actual geographical location.
The statement quoted a letter Keyamo addressed to the IATA Area Manager for West and Central Africa, Samuel Fatokun.
Osubi Airport, which bears the International Civil Aviation Organisation four-letter location indicator DNSU, is physically situated in Osubi town, near Warri, Delta State.
Over the years, however, the facility has often been referred to as “Warri Airport”, largely because it serves the Warri metropolitan area and is closely associated with the commercial city.
The government now wants that description to be separated from the airport’s formal geographical identity.
Keyamo said the continued use of the IATA code QRW, which is associated with the broader Warri identity, “does not adequately reflect the airport’s actual name and physical location.”
In an aviation industry where three-letter codes are used on flight tickets, baggage tags, boarding passes, reservation systems and international travel platforms, the government argues that “the correct identification of an airport matters.”
A wrong or confusing identity, therefore, can potentially create uncertainty for travellers and stakeholders.
It is against this background that Keyamo has asked IATA to initiate a formal review of QRW and consider a replacement code that has a clearer relationship with Osubi.
Among the possible alternatives suggested by the Federal Government are OSU, OSB, SUB and QSB.
The government, however, recognises that the final decision is not entirely within its control. Any new designation must satisfy IATA’s established coding procedures and must also be available for assignment.
Keyamo believes such a change would help “strengthen the airport’s identity while reducing potential ambiguity for passengers and other stakeholders”.
In a related directive, airlines operating flights to and from the airport have been instructed to ensure that passenger-facing documents properly identify the facility as Osubi, Delta State.
Flight tickets, luggage tags, boarding passes and other relevant documentation are expected to reflect the airport’s proper designation.
The Minister has also directed the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority, Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria, Nigerian Airspace Management Agency and other relevant aviation agencies to ensure that the correct designation is consistently reflected across their systems, records, publications and operational interfaces.
He added that, “Osubi is not Warri and Warri is not Osubi.”
Meanwhile, United Nigeria Airlines has pledged N20 million to sponsor the prestigious annual Chinua Achebe Prize for Fiction, administered by the Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA) for the next 10 years.
The sponsorship deal was disclosed on Monday by the Executive Chairman of the airline, Professor Obiora Okonkwo, following a discussion with the ANA president, Dr. Usman Akanbi.
Under the arrangement, the airline will provide N2 million every year for the next 10 years to ANA, bringing the total sponsorship to N20 million. A commitment the association says would guarantee the continuation of the prize regardless of changes in the state government.
The yearly award which was initiated by the Anambra State government in 2021 in conjunction with the ANA leadership, has faced financial constraints in the last three years following the failure of the present administration to continue its sponsorship.
Though Governor Willie Obiano administration began the sponsorship with one million naira, the Governor Chukwuma Soludo administration that succeeded it in 2022 continued the sponsorship and agreed to ANA’s request to double it in consideration of inflation and administrative costs like payments to judges.
However, after two years, the organisers said the state government appears to have lost interest in continuing with the sponsorship despite several letters reminding it of its promise.
The apparent lack of commitment caused United Nigeria Airlines to intervenee and rescue the prize from uncertainty.
Announcing the airline’s decision to step in, Dr. Akanbi quoted Prof Okonkwo as saying: “Prof Achebe is too precious in our consciousness for the award to continue to suffer the current epileptic funding.”
Speaking on why the airline made the decision to take over the sponsorship, Prof. Okonkwo said that Achebe’s legacy demands this level of commitment.
“Very few men and women of letters and culture in recent history have brought as much attention and honour to the black race and the African world as the great Achebe through his writings, lectures, speeches, intellectual activism, ethical conduct, and intermittent interventions in political affairs which has made him an authentic conscience of the Nigerian people.”
Reacting to the sponsorship, the ANA president, who is a senior academic at the University of Ilorin in Kwara State said: “We are immensely grateful to Prof. Okonkwo and his airline for their patriotic intervention. Prof was not just a world-class raconteur and essayist, but also the ANA founder who started our association in 1981 at the University of Nigeria at Nsukka and accepted to serve as its first president, thus giving it the credibility and platform that has made the association highly respected beyond Nigeria’s shores.
Akanbi also highlighted Okonkwo’s consistent record of honouring Achebe, stating that Prof. Okonkwo has for some been hard to preserve the late author’s legacy.
“For instance, he was solely responsible for financing the erection of a statue of the late Prof. Achebe which was unveiled in July by Governor Chukwuma Soludo of Anambra State at the Ugwunwasike Roundabout in Ogidi, Idemili North Local Government Area, Achebe’s own hometown.”
The prize sponsorship is the latest effort made by Prof. Okonkwo and United Nigeria Airlines to cement Achebe’s legacy.
In June, one of the two Boeing 737-800NG aircraft purchased by United Nigeria Airlines was named after the late author, while the other was named after His Royal Majesty, Igwe Nnaemeka Achebe, the Obi of Onitsha.
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