Lost priorities : Southwest governors to spend N266 billion on airport projects in the mist of hunger

Governors in the southwest, both past and present, have voted more than N266 billion for the construction of new airports despite the non-viability of the many existing ones, in the mist of hunger everywhere.

As governors continue to pursue these projects, industry experts believe that some of these projects may not succeed and may not be profitable in the long run, reports The PUNCH.

Many ex-governors abandoned some of these projects, which are now burdens on their successors.

Findings show that the six southwest governors have cited airport projects in their various states sinking billions of naira on the project sites.

All six states of the southwest now have either an airport or a site where billions of naira have been spent in pursuit of an aerodrome. These states include Lagos, Ogun, Oyo, Osun, Ondo, and Ekiti.

Eight airport sites are in the six states. It was gathered that the federal government is responsible for the two airports in Ondo and Oyo states, while the four other state governments are responsible for the construction of the other five uncompleted airports.

In Lagos, the federal government-owned and operated Murtala Muhammed Airport has been adjudged as the most viable airport in the country.

Investigations by our correspondent showed that over N266bn of taxpayers’ money has been expended/earmarked for five of the eight airports.

In July, the Managing Director of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria, Olubunmi Kuku, revealed that only three of 22 airports in the country were viable and were contributing to the growth of the aviation sector.

Findings by our correspondent also show that only four out of over 30 airports in the country are economically viable, contributing N5.57tn to foreign trade in 51 months.

Industry experts said governors embark on airport projects against the advice of professionals in pursuit of political gains and stealing of public funds.

Ogun State, for instance, has two non-operating airports

In 2007, former Governor Gbenga Daniel conceived the idea of Gateway Agro Cargo Airport at Ilishan-Remo. He was unable to kick-start the project before he left office in 2011.

His successor, Senator Ibikunle Amosun, had a different idea for the project. In 2018, he proposed to construct a passenger airport in the Wasimi area of the state. Amosun’s administration started the groundwork for the airport but could not complete it before his tenure ended in 2019.

The current governor of the state, Dapo Abiodun, however, in 2021 reverted to ex-governor Daniel’s planned agro-cargo in Ilishan-Remo, his hometown.

Abiodun and Amosun, who have reportedly not been on speaking terms since the 2019 governorship election, renewed their hostility when the Senate Committee on Aviation, led by Smart Adeyemi ( Kogi West), visited the state to inspect the passenger airport projects.

But while playing host to the Senate Committee on Aviation, in March 2021, Abiodun informed the lawmakers of the plan to continue with the agro cargo airport floated by Daniel.

He said the agro-cargo airport project had a lot of potential.

Later, it was gathered that the state government had refocused the airport to accommodate both passengers and cargo.

However, documents downloaded from the state’s procurement website before it was later deleted from the website showed that over N97.2bn was earmarked for the yet-to-be-completed airport.

Sources familiar with the development told our reporter that the money had been spent on the project.

In the document obtained by our correspondent, the sums of N49,678,075,522 and N29,599,563,852 were budgeted separately for the airport.

Meanwhile, the state government had, on three occasions, failed to fulfill its promise to complete the airport and commence flight operations on the facility.

Multiple experts told this newspaper that with the current state of the airport, the aerodrome cannot be inaugurated yet.

The former Commandant of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos, Group Capt John Ojikutu, told our correspondent that he once advised the state during the government of Gbenga Daniel, adding that “if at all the state wants to site an airport, it should be along Wasinmi or Ota axis where the Amosun-backed airport was sited.”

In Osun State, documents sighted by this newspaper revealed that the expanse of land on which the airport was to be located had been acquired in 1936 for aircraft flight operations.

Under former Governor Rauf Aregbesola, the contract for the airport was awarded to Aeronautics Engineering at the cost of N4.5bn in October 2012. t was revised to N11 billion to accommodate more features.

Of this amount, the state government noted that it had spent N3.6bn. Thereafter, the project got abandoned mid-way, prompting the need for a re-award.

Despite all efforts to get the real reason why Aeronautics Engineering abandoned the project, no answer was given.

In 2015, the government announced that it would expend the sum of N11bn on the airport project, but by 2017 the figure had increased to N69bn as a result of expansion and other modern facilities that were included by the contractor and approved by the state government.

In October 2017, the state government revived its intention to continue the project but having entered a huge financial constraint, the Aregbesola administration opted for concession.

Later, before Aregbesola left office, the budgetary allocation for the airport project had swollen to N69bn. The PUNCH reliably gathered that about N12bn of Osun indigenes’ funds had been sunk into the construction site.

Also, in Ekiti State, the immediate past Governor, Kayode Fayemi, expended over N16.6bn public funds on the Akure airport, but the airport has also refused to attract aircraft over its non-viability.

When the governor conceived the idea, it was greeted by criticisms from stakeholders both in the state and beyond but the governor vetoed the cargo airport which is currently not in use.

As of January 2023, the Special Adviser to Governor Biodun Oyebanji on Budget, Economic Planning and Performance Management, Niyi Adebayo, revealed that N16.6bn had been spent on the yet-to-be-completed facility.

In Lagos, the state govern­ment during the Babatunde Fash­ola administration first mooted the idea of a new airport in 2009 under a Public Private Part­nership arrangement.

In 2011, a report by local newspapers, where the then Commissioner for Commerce and Industry was quoted, Adeniyi Oyemade, noted that N102bn equivalent had been voted to the project.

However, whether the allocation was eventually spent or withdrawn cannot be independently verified as of the time of this report. But not much was done by the Fashola government and his immediate successor.

Barely two years ago, the Lagos State Government announced its readiness to commence the construction of a new airport in the Lekki area of the state.

The plan by the Lagos State Government to build an additional airport in the state was said to complement the existing Murtala Muhammed Airport.

A 3,500 hectares of land, expected to accommodate 350 aircraft as well as about five million passengers yearly was set aside for the project.

Meanwhile, industry experts agreed that the state required at least an additional airport to optimally serve the millions of air travellers emanating from the state alone, but expressed divergent views of its implication on the revenue generation of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria.

N102bn was budgeted for the execution of the aerodrome.

It was gathered that the airport when completed would ease the traffic gridlock in Lagos Metropolis and help to meet the corporate travel needs within the axis, given the growing number of businesses such as Dangote Refinery and Kellogg’s located in and around the Lekki Free Zone.

Both Ondo and Oyo states have federal government airports that were commissioned in 1986 and 1982 respectively.

Both airports are classified as unviable but they still receive commercial flights, though not frequently.

Recently, the Oyo State Governor, Rotimi Makinde, proposed the upgrading of the airport in Ibadan to an international standard but this move has been met with criticisms from both experts and air transport watchers.

Experts react

An industry expert, John Ojikutu, asked for the rationale for building an airport without necessary research on passenger and cargo traffic.

He specifically questioned why the Ogun State Government decided to build a cargo airport in “a place like illishan?”

Ojikutu said, “I have been called several times on this matter and I will say the same thing I have always said. It is not a must to build an airport! As a governor, you have a mandate to the people as a governor, why not face the basics? I don’t think they (the governors) have as campaign promises to build unviable airports all over the place, why not then face what you promised?

“Today, Ekiti has built one, but it can’t move; Lagos has been trying to build one for more than 10 years now. It has not gotten any headway; Osun has been trying to do that. Ilorin Airport has been there for almost 40 years. We have told them before you build an airport, you do credible groundwork to be sure of who or what your airport wants to service.”

He added, “Imagine that Ogun state airport, during the days of Gbenga Daniel as governor, I told them that that airport is better built along that Ewekoro or Ota axis where captains of industries can make use of the airport but politics won’t allow them to listen to us.”

The industry expert also questioned how the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority approved an airport without a business plan. He also accused Nigerian politicians of “always suspending professionalism for self-gains.

States comment

The Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Transport, Lagos State, Olawale Musa, said the project was still at a preliminary stage but assured that the government was planning alongside stakeholders and industry experts.

“We are still on the planning level. You know, building an airport involves a lot of design and planning. We already have the land but we are working on a comprehensive master plan with all stakeholders and regulatory authorities.”

Asked if the government has plans to ensure the viability of the airport, the permanent secretary said, “Obviously, with a modern design and standard that will compete with that of any city in the world.”

In Osun, efforts to get both the Commissioner for Information, Kolapo Alimi, and the Chief Press Secretary to the Governor, Bola Bamigbola, were unfruitful. Both text messages and calls to the commissioner were unanswered while the CPS was unreachable.

In Ogun State, the Commissioner for Finance, Dapo Okubadejo, and Commissioner for Transport, Gbenga Dairo, ignored our correspondent’s repeated calls, text messages, and WhatsApp messages on the matter.