The first international airport in the Ashanti Region is set to be named after the Asante Kingdom’s 13th monarch, Nana Agyeman Prempeh I.

This was announced by President Akufo-Addo during his penultimate State of the Nation Address (SONA) to Parliament. 

The facility which is 98% completed will be known as the Nana Agyeman Prempeh I International Airport and is expected to be commissioned by May this year.

The President further announced that Tamale International Airport will be known as the Yakubu Tali International Airport.

“There a number of important tasks lie ahead of us, one of which will be commissioning the Nana Agyeman Prempeh I International Airport in Kumasi, and naming the recently commissioned airport in Tamale the Yakubu Tali International Airport,” he said.

Nana Prempeh I was enstooled as Asantehene in March 1888 with the stool name Nana Kwaku Dua III Asamu of Ashanti Empire. The name was later changed to Prempeh I.

Nana Agyemang Prempeh I was taken to the Seychelles Islands in January 1896 after surrendering to the British forces under the command of Sir Francis Scott.

Nana Agyemang Prempeh I had earlier won two battles over the British and was moved to the island with 50 others including his mother, three wives and his children.

For 28 years, he was held in captivity but released to Ghana in 1924 under a special arrangement with the British authority to return as an ordinary man.

Nana Agyemang Prempeh I died on 12 May 1931 and was succeeded by his heir apparent Prempeh II as Asantehene.

He was buried in Kumasi.