On Wednesday, the Abuja airport was shut down and will remain so for six weeks. The airport was close for runways repairs, shortly after airlines threaten to stop incoming flight to Abuja airport. In respect to this development, all intended flight to Abuja were been diverted to Kaduna airport which had begun operations on Wednesday night.

According to a report from Reuters, workers were already at the point of finishing the electrical fittings and laying tiles at the new terminal in northern Nigeria’s Kaduna airport just hours before it took over responsibility for handling passengers bound for the capital Abuja on Wednesday.

“The cutting of direct flights to Abuja, an important business hub as well as Nigeria’s political nerve centre, raises economic and security concerns. Passengers will take the journey of around 160 km (100 miles) to the capital on guarded buses, along a road where kidnappings have taken place in recent years,” the report said.

“Despite the ongoing work, a flight carrying passengers on Ethiopian Airlines, the only international airline that has said it will use the alternative airport, arrived at the new terminal at 11.30 local time (1030 GMT),” a senior airport official said.

Read more at Reuters