{"id":121192,"date":"2025-08-03T20:36:36","date_gmt":"2025-08-03T19:36:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/?p=121192"},"modified":"2025-08-03T20:36:36","modified_gmt":"2025-08-03T19:36:36","slug":"n712bn-airport-renovation-suspicious-wasteful-misplaced-priority-adc","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/n712bn-airport-renovation-suspicious-wasteful-misplaced-priority-adc\/","title":{"rendered":"N712bn Airport Renovation Suspicious, Wasteful, Misplaced Priority \u2013 ADC"},"content":{"rendered":"
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By Myke Agunwa<\/div>\n
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The African Democratic Congress (ADC) has questioned the Tinubu administration\u2019s plan to spend over \u20a6712 billion on the renovation of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Lagos.<\/div>\n
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Recall that approximately $500 million was spent to build four new airports in Abuja, Lagos, Kano and Port Harcourt in 2014 via a Chinese loan that is yet to be repaid.<\/div>\n
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It is also on record that this same Murtala Muhammed Airport had a new international terminal that was commissioned by President Muhammadu Buhari in March 2022.<\/div>\n
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The facility was built on a landmass of approximately 56,000 square metres, with 66 check-in counters and has the capacity to process 14 million passengers annually.<\/div>\n
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It was said to have been equipped with \u201ccensored conveyor belt, seven jet bridges, 10 ultra-modern cooling systems, heat extraction in the baggage hall, ample space for duty free shops and banks, recreational areas for children, 22-room hotel for stop-overs among others\u201d ADC alleged.<\/div>\n
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In a statement signed by Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi, the ADC\u2019s National Publicity Secretary on Sunday, the party questioned whether the renovation plan and its associated cost had received approval from the National Assembly, describing the expenditure as reckless and insensitive.<\/div>\n
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The coalition party argued that the \u20a6712 billion could instead deliver transformative impact by building over seven fully equipped teaching hospitals, funding free basic education across three geopolitical zones for five years, providing rural electrification to thousands of communities, or rehabilitating thousands of kilometers of federal roads and bridges.<\/div>\n
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While describing the amount as another brazen act of fiscal recklessness and official insensitivity, which further confirms how far the APC government is removed from the reality of the suffering people of Nigeria the party said,<\/div>\n
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\u201cIt is hard to understand how expending \u20a6712 billion into renovating an airport that already received significant upgrades in recent years makes fiscal sense in a country where public universities wallow in chronic austerity, where basic medical care, has become a luxury that only the rich can afford, where millions of Nigerians have been thrown into poverty as a result of government\u2019s ill-conceived policies<\/div>\n
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\u201cThe Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Lagos remains functional and serviceable. What the aviation sector needs is not another gold-plated terminal, but proper maintenance, enhanced efficiency and the expansion of regional airports to boost real connectivity across Nigeria.<\/div>\n
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\u201cIt is important to note that although this airport was designed to process 14 million passengers in a year, available reports indicates that the airport handled only 6.5 million passengers in 2024, less than half of its capacity\u201d.<\/div>\n
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The coalition party explained that \u201cthe inescapable conclusion is either that the previous APC government had lied to Nigerians about what it did with the Lagos Airport or the current government is about to spend such a huge amount of money on a project that already exists.<\/div>\n
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\u201cPerhaps even more troubling is the fact that this massive expenditure\u2014approved by the Federal Executive Council (FEC) on July 31, 2025\u2014has not received any backing from the National Assembly and it is not in any of the approved budget.\u00a0 Is this now how the government spends close to a trillion naira\u2014without appropriation, without scrutiny, and without the consent of the Nigerian people through their elected representatives? We demand to know: under what constitutional provision is this money being spent?\u201d<\/div>\n
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The party wondered how the government, even in the face of extant accountability laws, is able to approve expenditure of this magnitude with no public breakdown of costs, no transparent procurement process, and no national debate? many.<\/div>\n
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The ADC called on all Nigerians to reject this frivolous project just as it demanded its immediate suspension, and requested for full independent audit of the proposed budget, and a redirection of funds toward projects that would directly improve the lives of ordinary citizens, which should be the priority of any government.<\/div>\n
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The party said that continued wasteful spending amid widespread hunger, economic hardship, and rising insecurity will only continue to widen the trust deficit between the people and the government.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n