Governors of Nigerian States planning to embark on construction of airports have been urged to desist from such move and concentrate on other viable projects that have direct impact in addressing the teething challenges of poverty and unemployment among the people they govern.
This charge followed the common trend whereby most governors, upon assumption of office, begin the building of airports that are never completed.
Findings revealed that at the inauguration of these white elephant projects, the governors do assure the people that, upon completion, the airports will open opportunities for more economic activities, employment generation, increased revenue inflow, as well as attract investors to the states.
However, these expectations mostly never come through, as most of the airport projects are abandoned while some that are completed are neither viable nor self sustaining, owing to the dearth of passengers, and high operational costs, among others.
It has been observed, therefore, that rather than the misplaced priority of the prodigal awards of the states’ scarce resources on airports, governors should always strive to address the immediate needs of their people.
According to a recent aviation report, not less than N374 billion had been expended on airport construction projects by the states.
It was also observed in the report that the projects were mere conduits to siphon public funds by state officials rather than the economic interest of the state and the people they were to serve.
An economic expert, Dr Adetunji Ogunyemi, expressed concern that despite the obvious failure of some airport projects to take off effectively, more state governors are still promising their citizens that they would build the air transport system, which he described as unviable.
According to him, they should, rather, shift focus to road and rail networks, build functional hospitals, invest in agriculture and other projects that will have direct impact on the lives of the masses, most of whom, do not even know what planes look like.
Specifically, Ogunyemi asked Osun State Governor, Ademola Adeleke, not to indulge in building of the airport, which his administration had promised to embark upon.
He said, “Building of airports should not be first priority for states. How many air passengers do we have in Osogbo and Ibadan is just close. Ibadan is just a maximum one hour drive away from Osogbo. What is going to be the commercial value of the airport you want to build in Ede or anywhere in Osun State? To me, it is a white elephant project and it is a way by which people want to engage in what I call Afghanistanism – You leave the real problem and you are trying to solve issues that are beyond you.
“Is Osun suffering as a result of the fact that there is no airport in Osun State? The answer is no. I would have thought that an investment in hospitality business with respect to Osun-Osogbo festival and establishing some company to do some mining would make more sense. And this would be owned by the state government together with the participation of the private sector. I think that should be the comparative advantage of Osun State, not to be looking for a white elephant project by building an airport.”
Arguing on the rationale behind having more airports when existing ones are not as viable as they are expected to be, the economist opined that states that shared proximity with their neighbours with airports should maximize the presence of the airports rather than building new ones.
“How commercially viable is the Ibadan Airport? Ibadan that people and the South West have been building since 1830. How viable has Ibadan grown since 1830 to the extent that an Airport that it has somewhere in Alakia will be so commercially viable that it will encourage commercial activities to go there?
“Go to Ibadan Airport, you will be dazed at the extremely low level of the commercial activity surrounding it and the backward and forward linkages around that airport. How many airlines come to Ibadan apart from Overland and I am not advertising for them, Arik, and now Air Peace, who fly into the place once and fly out once. So, to go and set up another airport anywhere in Osun State, that is about one hour drive to Ibadan, is like misplacing priority,” he contended.
