Ibadan airport expansion vital to Oyo devt – Makinde

The Governor of Oyo State, Seyi Makinde, has said the expansion of the Ibadan airport is critical to the state’s economy.

Makinde disclosed this on Wednesday, while speaking at the 40th anniversary celebration of the airport in Ibadan.

A statement by the Chief Press Secretary to the governor, Mr. Taiwo Adisa, stated that some of the efforts made by the Makinde administration resulted in the upgrade of the airport to CAT 6.

According to Makinde, once the Iwo Road Bus Terminal project is completed, affordable public transport will be made available to the airport.

He said, “I want to congratulate the staff and management of FAAN on your 40th anniversary. We look forward to your golden jubilee, and by that time, I look forward to being able to fly from this airport to other parts of the world.

“The Ibadan airport is so central to our economy in Oyo State that after we came in as an administration, the first thing I did was to befriend them here. So, because of the centrality of the Airport in Ibadan to our economy, we know if we work together with FAAN and the airport Staff, we will be able to achieve our own objective as well.

The governor highlighted some of the efforts already embarked upon by the state government to expand the airport.

Earlier, the Managing Director & Chief Executive of FAAN, Capt. Rabiu Yadudu, who was represented by the agency’s Director of Finance, Mrs. Adenike Aboderin, appreciated the governor and his cabinet for their tremendous efforts and support towards the uplift of the Federal Airport Authorities of Nigeria Ibadan airport.

Makinde corroborated Yadudu saying, “The representative of the FAAN MD already mentioned a few of the things we have done here but one thing that I have clearly seen is, for those who have been coming to this Airport before the advent of this current administration, you will agree with me that if you needed to fly to Ibadan, you would call your driver because you won’t see any taxi here to take you to town, as the flights were few and far between.