Obi berates FG’s N712bn airport renovation amidst growing hardship

Former presidential candidate and Labour Party leader, Peter Obi, has decried the Federal Government’s approval of a ₦712.3 billion budget for airport renovation, saying the development was a misplaced priority at a time when over 34 million Nigerians are at risk of hunger.

In a strongly worded statement on his X-Handle on Wednesday, Obi noted that the move to invest such a homogenous sum in physical infrastructure while citizens starve is a clear indictment of the government’s priorities.

“It is profoundly troubling that at a time when millions of Nigerians are battling hunger and hardship, the government chooses to spend ₦712 billion—not to feed the people or lift them out of poverty—but to renovate an airport,” Obi said.

The United Nations issued a chilling warning in July, which was later published in local media on August 1, 2025, stating that 34 million Nigerians are facing acute food insecurity. That same day, the Federal Government unveiled the airport renovation project, sparking outrage among citizens and rights groups

Obi queried the timing and rationale of the expenditure, especially given that Nigeria borrowed $500 million in 2013 to upgrade five international airports. He asked: “What justifies spending even more on just one airport a decade later, when the nation is in economic distress and social crisis?

“Development is about choices. Hunger, health, education and security should come before terminals and tarmacs. A government that builds grandiose infrastructure while its people starve is not building a nation — it is betraying one,” he added.