- Usman described using subsidy savings for the airport as unacceptable, insisting it was the only tangible benefit Nigerians previously enjoyed.
- She argued that a PPP arrangement was more suitable since terminals are commercially viable and attract self‑sustaining private capital globally.
A faction of the Labour Party has criticised the federal government over its plan to spend ₦712 billion on rehabilitating the Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Lagos.
The aviation minister, Festus Keyamo, had announced that the renovation, which will affect the old terminal, would cost ₦712.25 billion.
Keyamo explained that this will be the first comprehensive work on the terminal since it was originally constructed decades ago.
In a statement on Monday, Ken Asogwa, spokesperson for Nenadi Usman, interim chair of the LP faction, described the project as both “outrageous” and “insensitive.”
Usman argued that committing $475 million to the project was disturbing at a time when 63 per cent of Nigerians are multidimensionally poor, according to the National Bureau of Statistics.
“This is not just wicked; it is satanic and speaks to a gross disregard for the plight of the masses,” the statement read.
She said it was unacceptable that the initiative would be funded from subsidy savings, which she described as the only tangible benefit Nigerians previously enjoyed from the nation’s oil wealth.
“To withdraw this lifeline from the poor only to channel the proceeds into a luxury terminal accessible exclusively to the rich is a new low in governmental wickedness,” she added.
The LP faction maintained that a public‑private partnership would have been more appropriate since terminal projects worldwide are regarded as viable commercial ventures.
“Around the world, terminal buildings are revenue‑generating investments. Why not invite private capital instead of squandering subsidy savings on an elitist project?” Usman asked.
She said the airport project, alongside the Lagos‑Calabar coastal highway estimated at ₦15 trillion, reflects a pattern of misplaced priorities by the federal government.
According to her, airports across Africa, Asia and Europe have been built for less than the $475 million assigned to a single renovation in Lagos.
“How then does this government justify blowing such a colossal amount of public funds on a mere renovation?” she queried.
At the weekend, the aviation minister said the rehabilitation would not be financed by loans but through the Renewed Hope Infrastructure Development Fund, which he described as one of the gains of subsidy removal.
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