Benue Cargo Airport: Community threatened to release snakes on construction workers – Commissioner

The Benue State Government on Monday claimed that citizens of Guma LGA of the state vowed to release snakes to bite construction workers at the Cargo Airport site.
He said the development had halted the project at the moment.

The Commissioner for Works, Transport and Energy, Mr Emmanuel Manger, told newsmen that the community was strongly opposed to the construction of the airport without compensation first paid to the land owners.
“The community has threatened to release snakes to bite anybody, who trespasses on their land without paying full compensation to them’’, he said.
Manger explained that part of the community’s land was earmarked for the establishment of a cargo airport.

He said that the community had attributed its opposition to the project to government’s failure to fully compensate their kinsmen after taking some of their land to establish the Federal University of Agriculture, Makurdi.
The commissioner said that the face-off had since stalled the commencement of the project.
In another development, Manger disclosed that the Agatu-Oshugbudu and Gbeji-Afia roads among others being constructed had been completed and were ready for inauguration.