Nigeria’s opposition arrowhead Peter Obi has excoriated President Bola Tinubu’s administration for allocating humongous N712 billion for the renovation of Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Lagos. The former Anambra governor is seeking to replace Mr Tinubu as president in 2027.
Mr Obi’s criticism came days after the Federal Executive Council approved the renovation as part of a broader effort to modernise the airport and improve the passenger experience.
In a statement on Wednesday, Mr Obi described the allocation as profoundly troubling at a time scores of Nigerians contend with acute hunger.
“It is profoundly troubling that at a time when millions of Nigerians are facing the crushing burden of hunger, the Federal Government has chosen to approve a staggering ₦712.3 billion—not to feed its people, not to lift them out of hardship, and not to invest in their well-being, but to renovate an airport,” the politician said. “This raises a fundamental and urgent question: Where are our national priorities?”
Mr Obi cited the United Nations report from July, warning that 34 million Nigerians would be at risk of hunger in August, stating that the allocation was a misplacement of priorities.
“In July this year, the United Nations issued a frightening warning that 34 million Nigerians are at risk of hunger. This was also published in national dailies on August 1, 2025. This is not just an abstract statistic. It speaks of real people—our parents, children, neighbours, and friends – who are going to bed hungry and waking up without hope of a meal,” he added.
Slamming Mr Tinubu’s administration for the unjustified wastage, the former presidential candidate recalled that Nigeria secured a $500 million loan from the China Exim Bank, supplemented by counterpart funding, to upgrade five international airports in Lagos, Abuja, Kano, Port Harcourt, and Enugu.
The former Anambra governor said, “Let us not forget: in 2013, Nigeria secured a $500 million loan from the China Exim Bank, supplemented by counterpart funding, to upgrade five international airports—Lagos, Abuja, Kano, Port Harcourt, and Enugu. If that massive investment was made barely a decade ago, what justifies an even larger sum today for just one airport—especially at a time when Nigerians are starving, internally displaced, and desperate?”
Mr Obi further condemned the government for building grandiose infrastructure while leaving Nigerians starved, stressing the country’s resources should be judiciously invested in critical areas of development.
“As a nation, our primary obligation is to protect and provide for our people, to ensure they are fed, healthy, and secure. While physical infrastructure like airports and roads matter, they cannot prioritise against hunger, health, education, and security. Food security itself is a national security and economic strategy.
“Development is about choices. It’s about understanding that national progress begins with the basics: human development, not with grandiose infrastructure projects. A government that builds grandiose infrastructure while its people starve is not building a nation – it is betraying one,” the presidential hopeful explained.
However, on Monday, aviation minister Festus Keyamo noted that the president’s budget was frugal compared to the spending of other African nations on airport renovations.