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Research dossier · Places & Architecture

Sadiq Abubakar III International Airport

airport serving Sokoto in Nigeria

Architectural plans, a scale model, maps and brass measuring instruments
Places and architectureInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionJul 21, 2026
Entity authorityQ922675 ↗
Source-derived summary

Sadiq Abubakar III International Airport or Sultan Saddik Abubakar Airport (IATA: SKO, ICAO: DNSO) is an airport serving Sokoto, the capital of the Sokoto State in Nigeria. It is named after Siddiq Abubakar III, the Sultan of Sokoto from 1938 to 1988. Its operator is Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN).

In 2022, it was the airport with the third highest level of aviation traffic in Northern Nigeria.

History

Located near Bodinga to the south of Sokoto, Sadiq Abubakar III International Airport was officially opened on 17 February 1982; it replaced an existing airport in the southern suburbs of Sokoto.

Stevin Construction got the contract to build pavements and earthworks for the airport. The airport was planned to get air service from Boeing 747 aircraft. The Stevin Group contract for this airport was for 20 million British pounds.

In August 2018 supporters of the former Governor of Sokoto State Aliyu Magatakarda Wamakko trespassed onto the secure area, including some on motorcycles, and gathered on the airport’s apron; they prevented the aircraft that Wamakko was using from parking on the apron after it landed. The incident raised concerns in an editorial from This Day about the security and safety of Nigerian airports.

Editorial summary

This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Sadiq Abubakar III International Airport” as airport serving Sokoto in Nigeria. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.

Editorial reviewMost useful as a place-based finding aid connecting the present description to earlier jurisdictions, maps and built evidence. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1938, 1988, 2022, 1982—that can be checked directly. The selected authority fields contribute no independent date. The account is most persuasive where Sadiq, Abubakar and International can be independently traced.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

The subject matters to the places & architecture register because the source frames it as airport serving Sokoto in Nigeria. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.

Evidence profile

Place names and jurisdictional language are key evidence: both can reveal earlier catalogue descriptions and overlooked record series. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 21, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q922675. Authority coordinates are 12.916, 5.207. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1938, 1988, 2022 and 1982.

Critical limits

Modern boundaries and familiar names can conceal earlier jurisdictions or structures that do not align with the present site. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Treat names, boundaries and functions as historically changeable. Maps, plans, inventories and administrative records can clarify what the place meant at different dates.

Best used for
  • Historic place names
  • Jurisdictional context
  • Routes into maps and plans
Verify next

Contemporary maps, plans, listed-building records, estate papers and the responsible local or national archive.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Sadiq Abubakar III International Airport”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Sadiq Abubakar III International Airport primary sources, Sadiq Abubakar III International Airport archive and Sadiq research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Sadiq Abubakar III International Airport”?
  2. What physical evidence or contemporary plan supports the description?
  3. Which authority defined the place, boundary or structure at the relevant date?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “Sadiq Abubakar III International Airport” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.