Allocation of N712billion for reconstruction of Murtala Mohammed International Airport is misplaced priority, says civil society coalition

Coalition of Civil Society Organizations have kicked against the proposed Nigerian government allocation of N712billion for the reconstruction, rehabilitation and modernization of Terminal One of the Murtala Mohammed International Airport (MMIA), Lagos.

Penpushing reports that the eight coalition of the civil society organization faulted the proposed allocation in a joint press statement, arguing that the funds should have been use for most pressing priorities of the Nigerian people.

The societies raising eyebrows on the proposed project include Socio Economic Research and Development Centre (SERDEC), Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC), Centre for Environmental Sustainability and Development Awareness (CESDA) and Grassroots Center for Rights and Civic Orientation (GRACO)

Penpushing further reports that others are Gee Foundation for Social Justice and Development, 21st Century Community Empowerment for Youth and Women Initiative (CEYWI), Nurturelife Initiative for Health and Empowerment and Civic Spaces Initiative (RILDEV)

‘This Coalition paid close attention to the briefing by the Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo, wherein he announced that the project, will be executed with funds from the Renewed Hope Infrastructure Development Fund. The Minister also disclosed that the project involves the rehabilitation, upgrade and modernization of the International Airport Terminal One’, the statement reads.

Penpushing also reports that the coalition explained that it does not against the provision of world class infrastructure to drive Nigeria’s economic growth and prosperity, but pointed out that there are important value for money, transparency and accountability issues, which the Nigerian Government cannot afford to gloss over.

‘We make bold to state that the monies being expended for the project are not personal finances of government officials, but public funds, which should be used, prudently, transparently, and in line with the most pressing priorities of the Nigerian people’, it added.

‘This Coalition is concerned that the quantum of funds being devoted to the project, coming on the heels of a recent upgrade of five airports, across the country by the immediate past administration, is excessive, circumvents due process, and can hardly be justified in the context of daily economic struggles of the vast majority of ordinary Nigerian’.

‘For us therefore, the key question is not whether Nigeria needs modernized airports or not. The fundamental question is: in the face of millions of poor, starving, and insecure citizens, does this project stand the priority test?, the body stated

‘One of the core mandates of the Renewed Hope Infrastructure Fund is to enhance agricultural value chain to boost food security. How does the 712b project fundamentally enhance our country’s agricultural output and its value chain to make it a pressing priority of the moment’.

Penpushing reports that the coalition said it joined other well-meaning patriotic Nigerians in expressing legitimate concerns and outrage over such a huge expenditure on an airport project at a time millions of our fellow citizens are languishing in poverty and economic deprivations occasioned by the government’s harsh, haphazard and draconian policies.

‘Given the background of the economic agonies and pains Nigerians are facing, the approval of this expenditure questions the government’s avowed commitment to channel public resources towards realizing the best objectives for the majority of citizens’.

‘It clearly amounts to expending scarce national resources on projects that can be on the queue, behind our other 1.91 trillion 712 billion pressing national priorities. With the recent projections by the World Bank that poverty in Nigeria will increase by 3.6 percentage points over the next five years through 2027, our country requires more focus pro-people priorities, which will give a helping hand to fellow struggling citizens’.

‘Consequently, comparing this airport reconstruction to some critical sectors shows evidence that there is clearly a mismatch of priorities. In the 2025 budget, healthcare for over 200million Nigerians got the sum of 1.91 trillion, while agriculture received a proposed budget of 826.5billion’.

‘That the cost of just one airport reconstruction comes close to the annual budgets for key sectors, which should serve the welfare of Nigerians, speaks to the misplacement of national priorities’.

‘Similarly, for the Federal Government that was recently admonishing state governors to place priority on healthcare, education and poverty reduction, it is clear that federal authorities are not practicing what they preach’.

‘The deployment of scarce public funds for the execution of vainglorious white elephant projects is part of the unending assault to the sensibilities of long-suffering Nigerians’, the group emphasised.

Penpushing further reports that the coalition stated that a government, which prioritizes fiscal discipline and prudent management of public funds will channel such a massive amount into key impact areas like healthcare, education, agriculture and poverty reduction.

‘Within the context of value for money and most pressing priorities, this particular approval woefully fails the tests. This Coalition can boldly assert that the N712billion, if transparently and strategically utilized can help pull out a good number of the 75 percent of Nigerians in the rural areas, which the World Bank in May, 2025 stated, live below the poverty line’.

‘There can therefore be no mistaken the fact that this decision by the Federal Government is at variance, and crushingly contradicts the government’s posturing that it removed fuel subsidy in other to curb waste and fraud’.

‘The fundamental question to pose is: what is more deceptive than plunging Nigerians into economic woes through total subsidy removal without adequate safety nets, only to deploy the funds realized to opaque, vain and corruption-prone projects, which would have no real or lasting impact on the lives of citizens?’

‘This Coalition is therefore of the considered view that the extravagant spending should be immediately reviewed and shelved. In the context of transparency, accountability and due process, it is also curious that the Executive arm proceeded with this approval without any known deliberation whatsoever at the National Assembly. Consequently’

‘We need to remind the Federal Government, led by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu that Nigerians across the states continue to live with the realities of infrastructural and social services decay’.

‘This decay manifests in such areas as poor federal roads networks, inadequate healthcare facilities, and unreliable power supply. If the idea is to invest in infrastructure, these grassroots needs, which will boost areas like agriculture, electricity supply, taking out of school children off the streets and enhance the agriculture value-chain are the ones that should be addressed first, not elitist airport reconstruction’.

‘For the sake of transparency and accountability, this administration is also duty bound to officially declare in clear and unambiguous terms the total savings, which have accrued from the removal of fuel subsidy’.

Penpushing reports the coalition, however, demanded that the authorities should redirect the proposed N712 billion towards more urgent and critical grassroots infrastructure projects, in such areas as rural feeder roads, cottage industries, healthcare, education and poverty reduction.

‘We urge the President Bola Ahmed Tinubu government to immediately declare the actual savings made from fuel subsidy removal and allocate them towards impactful projects benefiting the majority of impoverished Nigerians’.

‘We urge Nigerians to join us in rejecting this wasteful spending and demanding accountability from our leaders. Let’s prioritize the well-being of our citizens over grandiose projects. Together, we can demand transparency, accountable and responsive governance’.

FOOTNOTE: You want to share story with us? You want to advertise with us? You need publicity for product, or service, or   event? Contact us on WhatsApp +2348073463653 or email [email protected]