Dare Babalola
The African Democratic Congress(ADC) has condemned the Federal Government’s plan to spend over ₦712 billion on the renovation of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Lagos.
This was stated late Sunday by Bolaji Abdullahi, the party’s National Publicity Secretary who described the expenditure as extravagant and a misplaced priority.
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.
The coalition party argued that the ₦712 billion could instead deliver a transformative impact by building over seven fully equipped teaching hospitals, funding free basic education across three geopolitical zones for five years, providing rural electrification to thousands of communities, or rehabilitating thousands of kilometers of federal roads and bridges.
ADC stated, “The African Democratic Congress strongly condemns the outrageous N712bn airport renovation project announced by the Tinubu administration as another brazen act of fiscal recklessness and official insensitivity, which further confirms how far this APC government is removed from the reality of the suffering people of Nigeria.
“It is hard to understand how expending N712bn 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.
“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.
“Just for context, the amount of money that is being funnelled into the renovation of one airport, approximately $500m, is the same total amount that was spent to build four new airports in Abuja, Lagos, Kano and Port Harcourt in 2014 via a Chinese loan that is yet to be repaid.
“This same Murtala Muhammed Airport had a new international terminal that was commissioned by President Muhammadu Buhari in March 2022.”
The coalition party explained that “the inescapable conclusion is either that the previous APC government had lied to Nigerians about what it did with the Lagos Airport or the current government is about to spend such a huge amount of money on a project that already exists.
“Perhaps even more troubling is the fact that this massive expenditure—approved by the Federal Executive Council (FEC) on July 31, 2025—has not received any backing from the National Assembly and it is not in any of the approved budget. Is this now how the government spends close to a trillion naira—without appropriation, without scrutiny, and without the consent of the Nigerian people through their elected representatives? We demand to know: under what constitutional provision is this money being spent?”
Recall that President Bola Tinubu approved N712.3bn for the upgrade of Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos, under the Renewed Hope Infrastructure Development Fund.
Aviation Minister, Festus Keyamo, announced the approval after the Federal Executive Council meeting held in Abuja on Thursday.
Keyamo said this would be the first major rehabilitation of the airport’s old terminal since its construction.
