Nigeria keeps building airports – but where are the passengers?

A Dana Air plane on the runway in Lagos. Aviation consultants say the industry must expand to fill over-capacity. Photograph: Sunday Alamba/AP

Last Thursday the governor of Zamfara, one of Nigeria’s poorest states, held a ceremony to mark the start of construction on an international airport in the state capital Gusau.

“The economic benefits and multiplier effects … are quite enormous,” Dauda Lawal said. “The airport will have a tremendous impact on the ease of doing business and other social interactions [here].”