The opposition coalition, the African Democratic Congress (ADC), on Sunday condemned the Bola Tinubu administration’s plan to spend over N712 billion on the renovation of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA) in Lagos.
In a statement issued by the ADC’s National Publicity Secretary, Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi, 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.
Last week, the federal government announced that it was embarking on a major renovation project at the MMIA in Lagos, valued at N712 billion. The extensive upgrade, it said, aims to modernise the aging infrastructure of the country’s busiest airport and bring it in line with global standards for aviation facilities.
But the ADC strongly condemned what it described as the outrageous value of the airport renovation announced by the Tinubu administration, characterizing it as another brazen act of fiscal recklessness and official insensitivity, which it claimed further confirmed how far the All Progressives Congress (APC) government is removed from the reality of the suffering people of Nigeria.
”It is hard to understand how expending N712 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’s ill-conceived policies
”The 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.
