Governor Seyi Makinde of Oyo State has urged the Federal Government to upgrade and cede the control and management of the Ibadan Airport to the state in order to further boost the economy of the South-West in particular and the nation in general.
Makinde spoke recently while hosting the Joint National Assembly Committee on Aviation, led by the chairman, Senate Committee on Aviation, Senator Smart Adeyemi.
The governor stressed the need for the upgrade of the Ibadan Airport, saying that the South-West was vibrant and overdue for a regional airport.
In a statement made available to Oyo Reporters by Taiwo Adisa, Chief Press Secretary to the governor, Makinde said the state government could effectively manage the affairs of the airport through Public Private Partnership arrangement.
According to the statement, the state had commissioned a study that clearly showed that a PPP arrangement would fast-track the planned upgrade of the airport.
“We are thinking of how to take over the airport because the model is not to use the state’s funds, but to do a public-private partnership where the state will join up with experts in the field and people with investable money.
“We will take over that airport, do all the expansion and see if we can turn it into an international airport. Even if we don’t focus on other places around the world, we can focus on the region. If we have regional flight, we will probably see a lot of people fly into Ibadan from West Africa mostly. So, we have been doing our own bit.
“We just signed an Memorandum of Understanding with KOPEC to fix the road from Iwo Road junction all the way to Alakia. It is a federal road and has been awarded by the Federal Government but not funded at this point.
“We said we will provide the fund because it is our people that ply the road. So, we will fund it and any day the Federal Government decides to refund, we will get it back. In the early life of this administration, we awarded the road from the airport through Ajia, with a spur to Amuloko.
“What that will do for us is, people coming from Ile-Ife and Ogun State can have access to the airport without going into the city and the work is close to 60 per cent level of completion right now. The previous administration also awarded Beere-Akanra-Dagbolu Road and we are continuing with that project.
“What that does for us is, if you are coming from Ijebu-Igbo and you want to fly through Ibadan, it is almost 30 minutes drive. With that, the Ibadan Airport is not only going to serve the Ibadan people but other adjoining states,”
“You can see the calibre of people here today. This tells us how important the issue of Ibadan Airport is to us. The airport, ideally, should be the alternate airport to Lagos. So, we think if Ibadan is fixed properly, it will take away all those headaches of having to go to Ghana.
“As a government, we have been trying our best to do our own bit and, as a matter of fact, we have already started the process of upgrading the Ibadan Airport. We know for a fact that the runway right now is 2400m/45metres and they said if we want to make it standard, it should go to 3.3km/60 metres.
“Even the parking area is about 25,200 square metres and we should actually push that to 76,500 to be able to accommodate wide-body aircraft. So, we are looking at the instrument landing system and the airport lighting system. We are in anticipation of this upgrade and we know it will happen. I have actually visited the Vice-President and the Minister of Aviation.
”The distinguished senator said that some other governors who have spent their money building airports are coming to see how they can hand it over, but it is the reverse for us. Some of the things we have noticed are not available at the airport, we have started fixing them. We awarded a contract to BOVAS to put in a storage and dispensing facility. We have asked for a new protocol lounge and it is almost done. We have also provided a fire tender for the airport.”
He noted stated that the advantage that the upgrade of the airport would mean to the Oluyole Industrial Park and the pacesetter industrial area, the central business district, the Moniya rail corridor and the dry port, adding that ”The airport is really central to the economic development of our state. The state would be able to develop its solid minerals deposits, including some tourist sites like the hanging lake at Ado-Awaye and the Ikere Gorge Dam.”
As the Federal Government considered the concession of the airports in Lagos, Port Harcourt, Abuja and Kano, Makinde suggested that it could, as well, cede the Ibadan Airport to Oyo State on a PPP.
In their reactions, the Chairman, Senate Committee on Aviation, Smart Adeyemi, and Chairman, House of Representatives Committee on Aviation, Nnolim Nnaji, stressed the economic importance of upgrading the nation’s airports, saying, “Our duty is to call the attention of the executive to areas where they need to provide funding.”
The delegation undertook an assessment tour of the Ibadan Airport to evaluate its condition.
