Without an iota of doubt, the privilege of having an international airport in one’s state can never be overlooked, discarded or thrown away as rubbish.
Apart from the fact that the rich, whom the airport is meant to serve, will have easy access or route to any of their desired destinations, common residents of Oyo state will also have something to be proud of irrespective of the fact that the ₦41 billion earmarks to upgrade Ladoke Akintola International Airport, Ibadan will hardly put foods on their tables.
For instance— to quote a specific example – the FG’s Muritala Muhammed International Airport, Ikeja is undoubtedly a booster to the egos and personal prides of Lagosians notwithstanding the certainty that the airport isn’t the route on which majority of Lagosians take to their usual destinations.
Though the Lagos state government and Lagosians always feel honoured and glad to have an international airport in the state, Babajide Sanwo-Olu or any of his predecessors never did, at any point in time, expend Lagos money to upgrade Muritala Muhammed International Airport, Ikeja.
However I do not think that Sanwo-Olu’s none contribution to the upgrade of the airport, in any way, deprives Lagos state and its residents the benefits the airport dispenses from time to time. In the first instance, why would anyone expect Sanwo-Olu to spend Lagos funds to finance a FG monument when there were several state government projects which Lagos state allocations and IGRs (Internally Generated Revenues), as substantial as they were, could not adequately finance?
Oyo state people are confused. They want to know why Gov Makinde, without considering the insufficient funds available to Oyo state, insists on spending ₦41 billion (Oyo money) to upgrade FG airport. People believe that spending such huge amount to upgrade a airport – which, at the end of the day, remits no returns into the Oyo state coffer – can be described as a monumental waste.
To many of us, the upgrade of FG Ladoke Akintola International Airport, Ibadan isn’t at all a bad idea for the airport at least has a purpose of serving whoever has the wherewithal to travel by plane. But the questions many want Gov. Makinde to answer are: At whose expense will the airport be upgraded? Is the upgrade of FG airport the priority or immediate need of majority of Oyo state residents when considering the insufficient allocations and IGRs which aren’t enough to finance the uncountable state projects that lay fallow for years? In whose purse or coffer will the returns from the airport, when commencing operation, be deposited? State’s or FG’s purse?
It’s of the opinion that embarking on a project without a feasibility study (a way to evaluate whether or not a planned project could return adequate profits to the coffer where the money was drawn) could lead to inevitable disaster. Even any industrialist, who operates a small scale business, will never engage in a business without putting pen on paper and taking cognizance of the financial gains or losses the business may likely result in.
Up to this moment, Gov Makinde and his team are yet to show to Oyo state residents the blueprint on which the analysis of returns from the upgrade are written. Or does the governor think that the residents, whose funds are to be expended on the airport upgrade, deserve not to know what is going on behind the scene? In my own view, the Oyo state people deserve to know whether or not the benefits from the upgrade supersede the ₦41 billion which is being earmarked for the upgrade for it’s risky and unwise to engage in a project that yields no return to the state at this time of economic crisis.
Prior to the time that the Chairman Ibadan Airport Upgrade Project Committee, Mr Bimbo Adekanmbi, was featured on an Ibadan-based radio station to explain the reason or reasons Oyo state must spend such substantial amount (₦41 billion) at this period of scarce resources to help the FG to upgrade its airport, this columnist was informed by the anchor of the interview about the proposed conversation with the chairman of the committee, and I was given a privilege to send questions to ask Mr Adekanmbi.
My questions: Is the upgrade of FG airport the priority of Oyo state and majority of its residents at this time? What fiscal returns is the state expected to derive from the upgrade, most especially during the time that Oyo state people are yet to see the returns the ₦5.5 million renovation of Adamasingba stadium has remitted into the state’s treasury after three years of renovation?
But to my utter surprise, Adekanmbi, who was known to be a financial guru while he was a Commissioner for Finance in the Late Abiola Ajimobi’s administration, failed, as far as I’m concerned, to respond succinctly and convincingly to those questions accordingly. I expected him to analyse the financial gain of the project but he only described how the airport would be upgraded – the explanation that only the contractor of the project could handle.
How could Adekanmbi have described this unnecessary involvement of Oyo state in the FG project if he had been on the other side of the fence? I’m confused whether or not Adekanmbi was the same man who condemned and spoke vehemently against Gov Makinde’s proposed ₦100 billion prosperity bond which he, Adekanmbi, described then as an exercise that would plunge Oyo state into financial bondage. He said, “Private bonds don’t work, it crashes all the time. If they collect this bond, we will be in bondage for twelve years.” As a former Commissioner for Finance, Budget and Planning, I still expect Adekanmbi to continue to speak against any financial recklessness in the state. But what is really going on at the moment?
Like I mentioned, it’s not a bad idea to have modern and international airport in Oyo state, but I do not think it’s appropriate to lavish and squander the state’s meagre funds to finance a FG project which is not likely to recoup and retrieve the ₦41 billion taken from the state’s treasury back into the treasury where the money was drawn from.
State projects are abound in Oyo state. Many roads, the paths on which the masses take to their destinations, are crying for repairs and constructions. Many public schools in Oyo state are in the state of dilapidation. Arable hectares of land are more than enough in Oyo state to plough and plant different kinds of crops to ease food shortages in the state. So, why choosing FG project over state government projects?
I believe that this ₦41 billion can go a long way if it’s judiciously channeled to the immediate needs – road constructions, education, agriculture and what have you – of Oyo state residents. Of course Oyo state residents will have no reason to always complain and life will always be comfortable for them to live on condition that their irresistible and unavoidable demands are met.
Ademola ‘Bablow’ Babalola
