The Federal Government of Nigeria plans to remodel the Murtala Muhammed Airport in Lagos with ₦712 billion. The plan is aimed at making the airport meet world-class standards and positioning Nigeria as West Africa’s aviation hub by 2030. The policy is also aimed at improving air safety, passenger experience, and foreign investment confidence.
However, the approval of the project by the Federal Government has generated a lot of reactions from Nigerians, who believe it is a misplaced priority by the government of Bola Ahmed Tinubu—especially at a time when the average Nigerian cannot afford three square meals per day. Millions of Nigerians currently groan under all-time high inflation, which has been attributed to government policies such as petrol subsidy removal and the floating of the Naira.
The Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo, defended the plan on a live TV program. He explained the need for the project and stated that it would be funded “through the Renewed Hope funding. It is not a budgetary kind of expenditure. It is from a special infrastructure fund, which is from the floating of the Naira and subsidy removal.” He also stated that the project would last for 22 months.
The minister further explained that the project would go through a rigorous process, which would require the complete demolition of Terminal One of the airport.
“It is not a refurbishment; we are tearing it down. Only the pillars will remain—the carcass, the decking. Everything will go, and they are going to redesign it now. We want to completely pull down Terminal One. The airport has two terminals. There’s an old building—if you’re approaching the airport on the long stretch of road, there’s a big building facing you with the name ‘Murtala Muhammed’ boldly written on it. That is the one we’re pulling down, not the one Buhari commissioned recently.”
He expatiated that the need for the project is to make Lagos a modern international airport and a proper hub to begin competing with other airports in Africa.
“We have hubs in Cairo, Casablanca, Ethiopia. We have hubs all over the world—even South Africa has a hub. Angola now has a hub with their tag airline; you can transit in Angola to South America, Brazil, and Portugal. But Nigeria has no hub.”
