Minister of State for Aviation, Senator Hadi Sirika, has said that the President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration has completed 134 of the 157 projects embarked on.
The Minister stated this on Saturday while unveiling the recently built terminal building at the Ibadan airport, located at Alakia, area of Ibadan.
Senator Sirika declared that all the 134 projects were 100 percent completed including the Ibadan Airport terminal building.
“We have achieved this feat as parts of the 157 projects that we undertook during this administration and completed 134 of them a hundred percent and this is one of them.” he said.
According to the Minister, Ibadan, being a city with rich history, culture and population remains a pivotal point to the developmental plans and agenda of the President Muhammadu Buhari led federal government hence the need for the renovation of the Ibadan Airport terminal building as well as its upgrade so as to serve the people of Oyo state, region and country in the areas of economy and commerce.
“The importance of Ibadan as a city and its environs, the rich history, culture and traditional, the trade and its commerce coupled with the size of the population of Ibadan is too important as a city to be ignored. The federal government through the Ministry of transportation and aviation is conscious of these, therefore we undertook this project to rehabilitate the airport and try to recreate the activities around the airport to take it past its previous glory.”
Senator Sirika added, “we cannot grow bigger and can’t run faster than our fathers. Therefore, we will not abandoned those cities for their historical significance, for their population, for their contribution to the development and growth of this country, for the socio-economic activities around those cities, for the trade and commerce and for the politics in those cities. Even for their tradition and culture among others.”
Speaking further, the Minister emphasized that the “city of Ibadan indeed is a pillar city in West Africa. It is central, just like Kano.”
” We revere this city and against this background, the ministry of transportation and aviation decided to rehabilitate the Ibadan Terminal building and some other associated works including perimeter fencing.”
Speaking, the Senator representing Oyo South Senatorial District, Senator Soji Akanbi called on the
” Federal Government to put the airport into use in full capacity by giving it the privilege of airlifting pilgrimages to Saudi Arabia and Jerusalem, saying, efforts have been made to ensure the airport runs in full capacity like Lagos and others”.
“Actually. I am here today to represent our people in Ibadan and deliver a clear message to the minister. They have done well, with the construction, the facelift and others. We are grateful but we are asking for more.This place is indeed underutilised. I said to the Minister that we want a situation where these facility is upgraded, even if it is not up to world-class, but to a level that our people going to Saudi Arabia and Jerusalem can fly directly from here and that will benefit the neighbouring states like Osun and Ekiti.”
