Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo, has defended the Federal Government’s controversial plan to rebuild Terminal One of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Lagos with ₦712 billion, describing it as a necessary step to bring Nigeria’s aviation infrastructure up to global standards.
Speaking on a Popular TV programme Sunday Politics, Keyamo painted a bleak picture of the current terminal:
“The roof is leaking, the place is decrepit and smelly. You have kiosks selling Indomie. Ceilings are falling, and carousels don’t workthe parts are obsolete.”
The project, approved last week, has sparked backlash, with critics slamming the Tinubu administration for greenlighting such a massive expenditure amid record inflation, widespread hunger, and surging living costs fallouts of fuel subsidy removal and forex unification.
But Keyamo insisted the funds aren’t coming from the regular budget:
“It’s from the Renewed Hope Infrastructure Fund savings made from subsidy removal and naira floatation. It’s not budgetary expenditure.”
He argued that the current state of the airport risks Nigeria losing foreign airline traffic.
“Airlines will eventually pull out. Poor terminals and runways affect their insurance premiums it becomes a safety and cost issue.”
Keyamo revealed that the overhaul will last 22 months, with plans to transform Lagos into a true regional aviation hub, comparable to Ethiopia or South Africa.
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“Right now, Lagos isn’t a hub. You can’t land domestically and seamlessly connect to an international flight. That stunts growth. So, we’re pulling everything down keeping only the pillars. It’s a complete redesign, not a renovation.”
