Oyo State governor, ‘Seyi Makinde has shed more light on the reasons the state decided to upgrade the Ibadan Airport, Alakia to an international airport.
The Governor made his reasons known via a statement issued by his Special Adviser on Media, Sulaimon Olanrewaju on Tuesday.
The Governor who is set to flag-off the project explained that the upgrade of the airport would support his administration’s drive to expand the economy of the state through agribusiness.
This comes a few weeks after the governor inaugurated an 11-man committee set up to oversee the delivery of the project. The committee is headed by a former Commissioner for Finance, Mr Bimbo Adekanmbi.
Recall that the Federal Government granted the Oyo State Government the approval to go ahead with the upgrade of the facility following several efforts and projects instituted by the state towards attaining Governor Makinde’s vision to turn around the facility for the state’s economic benefits.
Speaking during the inauguration of the committee on July 30, Governor Makinde had noted that “the decision to convert our existing local airport into an international airport was not a hasty one; we are not engaged in a let-me-do-this-because-other-governors-are-doing-it-competition.”
“This is a well-thought-out decision based on science, logic and data. This vision is already four years old and we laid the groundwork in our first tenure. We have completed the 500,000-litre aviation fuel storage and dispensing facility, which has been concessioned to Bovas Group.
“We have also upgraded part of the facilities which increased the number of airlines including Ibadan in their flight schedules,” he said.