Oyo State Governor, Engr. Seyi Makinde, has assured that Ibadan Airport would compete favourably with Murtala Mohammed International Airport, Lagos, and others of its kind in the country after the completion of its upgrade to international standards.
This is as he sets a 2025 deadline for the completion of some sections of the airport.
Makinde gave the assurance at the annual Thanksgiving service held at the Rehoboth Cathedral, Victory Land Complex, Oluyole Extension, Ibadan, on Sunday.
The governor submitted that the completion of the upgrade of the facilities at the airport remains his topmost priority in 2025.
Makinde, who claimed not to be deterred by the spate of criticism on the injection of state funds into the project, said the project, when completed, would attract more investment as well as increase the monthly Internally Generated Revenue of the state.
According to the governor, the Ibadan airport was originally designed to be an alternative airport to Lagos from day one.
He also seized the opportunity to disclose some goals his administration is hoping to work on in the year.
He thanked the church and people of the state for their consistent prayers and intercessions, which he said helped his administration sail through 2024 safely.
Makinde said, “I would like to say thank you to the church for remembering the administration every time in your prayers. Because it’s a tough environment. If not for the prayers, for the intercessions, we wouldn’t have been able to make some of this progress that you see and say, well, you have a government.
“You have been a source of joy and inspiration to us as an administration for this past almost six years now. When we started, not up to seven months, COVID-19 hit.
“It was uncharted territory we had to manage through. And with prayers and words of encouragement from the church and also several other lovers of this administration, God has sustained us up until this moment. So please don’t relent. 2025, we’re in this together.
“And one of the major projects that we know we will deliver this year, that is very much after my heart, is the Ibadan airport to upgrade it to international standards. Some people have said, oh no, it’s a project that is not viable. Why are we spending money on it? There are airports in Nigeria that are not viable.
“And they will also tell me that Ibadan is very close to Lagos. Yes, that is true. But Ibadan airport should have been an alternative airport to Lagos from day one.
“When we came in, there was no aviation fuel storage or dispensing facility at Ibadan airport. How would it be viable if planes cannot come and refuel in this place?
“Airplanes will drop people’s luggage in Abuja because they have to carry enough fuel to bring them to Ibadan and take them back to Abuja. So how will the airport be viable? So now we put an aviation fuel storage and dispensing facility in there.
“And yesterday, I saw with my eyes an airplane being refuelled at our airport in Ibadan. So we’ve removed one of the obstacles that is making the airport not viable. We’re also extending the runway. If you have a runway that cannot take more than a Boeing 737, we’re extending it. A 787 will land at Ibadan airport shortly.
“We made a terminal that is only good for maybe 100,000 people yearly. How will it be viable? So we’re building a new terminal that can take 1 million passengers yearly through that airport.
“And if you’re flying from London to Lagos, which we almost always do, what you actually do is that you fly 17 minutes into Lagos past Ibadan, and then you now use two hours to come back here through the road. If you don’t have to do that, if they can just drop you here 20 minutes before they will get to Lagos, who will go to Lagos?
“So Ibadan airport, with what we’re doing, it will be viable, and it will compete favourably with Lagos. Please keep supporting us.
“That project, the airstrip, will be delivered this year. The terminal will be delivered in the first quarter of next year. We have deployed the resources. It’s your money. It’s your state money.”
He said further, “I also have the circular road. The first segment, 32 kilometres from Technical University to Badeku, will be delivered this year. So please continue to pray for us. Continue to support this administration.
“My only charge is, please, we have the rule of law enforcement authority. People will say that, well, you cannot be hard on the people. Yes, we don’t want to be hard on anybody. When I came in about five-plus years ago, I said, I sold bread for my own mother. I said we will not take people off the streets until we build something for them where they can stay.
“And we have been doing that at Agodi Gates, at Challenge. We’re building one at Ojo. But please, we’re expanding the road. We are doing all of this so that people can shorten the travel time between point A and point B so that economic activities can occur quickly. So we must be ready to obey our own rules and regulations. Don’t dump refuse on the road median.”
He further pledged to do more for the people of the state in the new year, urging the people to also turn a new leaf to working for the good of the state.
“I will do more for the people. But I ask our people also to turn a new leaf and be responsible for our actions. So for me, it’s just to be thankful to God for being alive and for being able to see the beginning of this year, 2025. And by God’s grace, we’ll all see the end of the year.”
Earlier in his Thanksgiving sermon, Bishop Taiwo Adelakun urged the people to always be thankful to God for His deeds in order to receive more from Him.
According to him, “Offering thanksgiving to God, among other things, will bring about perfection, multiplication, and resurrection for those who give it.”
He stated that ingratitude is a sign of being proud.
He submitted that any person who doesn’t thank God for what he got from Him loses the right to another thing from God, adding that God wants us to be thankful to Him so He can do more for us.
The cleric, however, called on the people to continue to support the government through their prayers so that it can deliver more dividends of democracy and good governance.
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