International commercial flights have resumed in northern Nigeria
after a two-year suspension and despite calls for a continuation of emergency
rule in parts of the region, an aviation official said on Thursday.
Security will be provided for the newly-renovated international
airport in Kano, Nigeria's second-largest city, added Federal Airports
Authority of Nigeria spokesperson Yakubu Dati.
"We are paying more attention to Kano because of the volatile
situation there but there's been a lot of calm and a restoration of
peace," he said. "And that signifies the return of business."
Kano has been the sight of many insurgent attacks, including
co-ordinated bombings in 2012 that killed nearly 200 people.
A Sudan Airline flight that landed there on Wednesday has already
departed with new passengers, he said.
In the future, the airport authority hopes international flights
will move produce as well as people. Roughly 70% of the vegetables grown in
northern Nigeria are wasted partially because farmers have no way to export
their products, Dati said.
Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan this week asked lawmakers to
extend emergency rule in three north-eastern states, which do not include Kano,
also a state.
- AP
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