TINUBU APPROVES UPGRADE OF IBADAN AIRPORT. Upgrade starts in three weeks

 President Bola Tinubu has approved the upgrading of the Ibadan Airport, recently renamed Samuel Ladoke Akintola Airport in Ibadan, Oyo State to an international airport to pave  way for increased economic development and regional integration.

The approval follows the request of Governor Seyi Makinde to the Federal Government in his bid to change the status of the Ibadan facility to a global status.

The governor made this known yesterday while receiving the Chief of Air Staff of the Nigerian Air Force (NAF), Air Marshall Hassan Abubakar, who visited him at the Governor’s Office, State Secretariat, Agodi, Ibadan.

He said the upgrade would begin in the next three weeks.

The project, according to the governor, would include the building of a terminal, runway and other structural features.

He said it would be handled by experts and delivered to standard.

Governor Makinde announced that he will travel to Abuja to obtain the necessary documents to move forward with the project, promising that construction will begin as soon as the paperwork is complete.Makinde said his administration had spent the last five years turning around the state’s economy and had identified the need for the upgrade of the Ibadan Airport as being central to its economic expansion agenda.

He said his government’s resolve to build infrastructure that targets the economic expansion agenda has also seen it investing resources in the 110 kilometres Ibadan Circular Road, noting that the administration would consider the Air Force’s request for land for its post-retirement housing scheme on the Circular Road corridor.

Makinde said: “Since I came into office, this administration has focused on education, agriculture, health and expansion of our economy.

Ibadan Airport (IATA: IBA, ICAO: DNIB) is an airport serving Ibadan, the capital of the Oyo State of Nigeria. It was commissioned by Joseph Wayas, a former senate president of Nigeria, in June 1982.

The airport serves as the only other link, apart from Lagos, to the whole of South West Nigeria.

When completed, the Ibadan Airport will affect positively economic activities and development in the region. It will also help decongest Muritala Mohammed Airport in Ikeja, Lagos.

Economic activities and businesses around the Airport area in Alakia, Ibadan will also be enhanced.

Residents of the area who spoke with this magazine expressed excitement at the prospect of an International Airport in the area. 

According to Chief Amao, a businessman with office along the Airport Road, an International Airport in Ibadan is long overdue.

Mrs Ajijola, a trader in the area, said it will be a landmark achievement for the administration if and when it is completed and international flight operations start.