Ethiopia: Completion of Jijiga International Airport is just one success story of a failing Lugbur administration
The opening of Jijiga international Airport yesterday was a milestone for the Somali Regional State. As one of the biggest projects ever undertaken in the Somali region and now, one of the largest Airports in the country, the Jijiga international Airport is expected to open the Somali regional State to the outside world and contribute significantly to the Somali regions short and long term economic vitality. The region which lacks any significant or major projects which normally attract business enterprises is counting on this airport to open up new economic opportunities or at least attract the curiosity of a few adventurous entrepreneurs or business that are willing to relocate into the hot spots of the world which this region qualifies with its history of instability and neglect.
Jijiga Airport is expected to be the lifeblood of the state economy, and to stimulate new business activities into the Somali region and provide opportunities for the region’s businesses to export directly into world markets. The Airport has a terminal that will accommodate large wide bodied and cargo airplanes to land directly to Jijiga international Airport. This will enable direct flights from around the world to fly directly into the Somali region for the first time and allow passengers and goods to be flown directly from Jijiga. The economic impact; direct, indirect, induced and total is significant for the region.
The direct economic benefit for the region is the Airports creation of hundreds of employment opportunities or jobs if not thousands for the region. Its estimated that more than 2000 jobs will be created by the Airport once it’s fully operational. This will impact and improve the economic situation of thousands of families in Jijiga. The Airport will also generate millions of birr in direct revenue from taxation and fees into the coffins of the federal government which will be running the operation of the Airport from visitors and airplanes that land at the Airport.
Indirect economic impact of the airport into the region and Jijiga city will come straight from visitors and people flying into the airport and spending money while at the airport or staying in Jijiga. The airport is expected to raise the demand for more hotels and while Jijiga city doesn’t have world class hotels at the moment or even enough hotel accommodation, the demand for hotel or accommodation will spur new hotel construction, world class restaurants, entertainment centers and other related business ventures to sprung up throughout the surrounding areas of the airport and the city. The Airport will certainly attract hotel chain companies and hotel entrepreneurs into the region and specifically Jijiga city, with its enjoyable and lovely climate, and growing population, will be an enticing opportunity for investment. Induced impacts of the Jijiga Airport, on the other hand, could be the economic impact that is spurred by an airport employee who spends his or her money on goods and services that support other jobs and payrolls.
There is no doubt the Jijiga International airport will have a significant economic and political impact on the Somali regional State if its run and managed as a world class airport. All indications are that Ethiopian Airline will be in charge of running the Airport since it’s going to be the major tenant and as it runs all the other airports of the country with the help of the federal government. If the Airport is run by Ethiopian Airline, we expect the Airport to be run as a world class airport since the management of the airline has proven to be a world class. Ethiopian airline and its management is world class and the Airline is among the few best managed African airlines and has consistently made money and managed its airports smoothly and efficiently. However, if the airport is run by the federal government or the Somali region, then, you will expect inefficiency, corruption, mismanagement and deterioration of infrastructure and the airports facilities due to lack of trained staff, oversight and procedures to properly handle all of the airports contracts, finances and responsibilities.
The Jijiga international airport will also impact the Somali region by opening up the region to the world through the flow of foreign visitors but don’t expect any direct international flights soon due to the region’s current turmoil and instability and the federal government’s unwillingness or fear of opening up the Somali region to the outside world for political reasons. The airport has huge economic and political evolution potential for the region but all indications are the Airports economic and political impact won’t be realized unless there are significant changes in the current administration of the Somali region and unless there is a willingness and flexibility on the part of the federal government to allow the airport to be run like a world class airport and to promote progressive agendas that will contribute to the growth of the Jijiga airport and putting together incentives to attract airline traffic and reduce government regulations that limit the free flow of goods and services and people from the airport to the outside world and the rest of the country. Constructing a world class airport is one thing but allowing the airport to flourish without government limitation or too much government interference in the airports management, and putting restriction on its access is another. Going by the way the Somali region is governed at the moment; the Jijiga airport has the potential to be a white elephant project.
The Somali region is currently mismanaged from top to bottom. The region’s ministries are run like personal shops with little or no accountability by people who are not qualified to run them. Senior administrators of the region are not chosen for their capabilities or education but to which clan, sub-clan they are from. Individuals with the right education, experience and ability are passed over, ignored or pushed to low level positions for not belonging to the right clan, sub-clan and their talents wasted to the detriment of the region. Senior administrators of the region and other important senior position levels are filled by individuals hired for their perceived loyalty to the federal government and senior regional government administrators or their perceived anti-onlf allegiance, ignoring totally the individual’s education and experience level. The lack of hiring protocol and standards, has created a crop of leadership at all senior positions of the Somali region without the education, ability and experience to run or govern the region effectively and efficiently. The lack of ability at all levels of government and in most ministries is also creating future problem for the region since most of the region’s business is conducted without proper planning and without much vision involved in the current decision making. Most of the region’s business is conducted in such a cavalier, careless and irrational manner that goes against all established public administration and governing standards.
More over, top senior officials are running the region like their personal business without any checks and balances from any independent regional or federal level agency. The turn-over of senior level officials is getting close to being ridiculously stupid because they are being fired and re-appointed at such a rate and predictable fashion that makes mockery of the president himself. Highly talented individuals are put in position that predictably encourages them to leave the region or work for NGOs and highly talented students who are more than qualified to colleges and universities end up in the streets because of nepotism and clannism that denies them the opportunity to go to the country’s few universities. Senior officials submit the names of their relatives and those that belong to their sub-clan who are not qualified to go to these universities and because of the quota system of the universities, the majority of the region’s quota numbers go unfilled every year because of the high failure rates of the students selected via nepotism by senior officials. There is no standard or a fair accountable system of choosing these students and as a consequence, the region’s future is compromised as well. The blame is shared equally by the region’s top officials for their destructive policies, inability to govern, internal squabbling, their emphasis and manipulation of nepotism; and the federal government for its deliberate manipulation, and promotion of nepotism, appointment of individuals without the pedigree, experience and education to run the region and for turning a blind eye to all the mismanagement and blunders committed by these individuals in the name of a perceived loyalty and their declared, exaggerated fight against ONLF elements.
VOA 13pm GMT
IslamOnline
