Ladoke Akintola Airport to be upgraded to international status – Makinde, secures FG approval
Yinka ADETUNJI
Samuel Ladoke Akintola Airport, Ibadan, Oyo state capital, is to be upgraded to an international airport.
Oyo state governor Engr Seyi Makinde conveyed this information Wednesday while receiving the Chief of Air Staff of the Nigeria Air Force (NAF), Air Marshal Hassan Baba Abubakar who paid him a courtesy visit at the Governor’s Office, Secretariat, Ibadan, disclosing he would be heading to the Federal Capital Territory Abuja later in the day to get the necessary documentation to that effect.
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The upgrading to an international status it is said had been approved by President Bola Tinubu.
Governor Makinde noted that the development would spark increased economic activities and regional integration, assuring work on the project would commence as soon as all documentation are perfected.
He said further that the runway would be expanded and a new terminal would be built when the project commences, adding that a team had been constituted to implement the project which he said would boost the economy of the state.
Makinde consequently solicited the input of personnel of the Air Force in the state to ensure that the project meets the required operating standards.
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Earlier in his remark, the Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshal Hassan Baba Abubakar, said he was in Ibadan as part of an operational tour to Air Force formations across the country.
He commended Governor Makinde for his administration’s support to the armed forces especially the Air Force Base in the state.
Recall the renaming of Samuel Ladoke Akintola Airport was approved by President Tinubu along with 14 others in June 2023.
The airports renamed are: (Akure Airport – Olumuyiwa Bernard Aliu), Benin Airport (Oba Akenzua II), Dutse Airport (Muhammad Nuhu Sanusi), Ebonyi Airport )Chuba Wilberforce Okadigbo), Gombe Airport (Brigadier Zakari Maimalari), Ibadan Airport (Samuel Ladoke Akintola), Ilorin Airport (Gen. Tunde Idiagbon) and Kaduna Airport (Hassan Usman Katsina).
Others are Maiduguri Airport (Gen. Mumammadu Buhari), Makurdi Airport (Joseph Sarwuan Tarka), Minna Airport (Mallam Abubakar Imam), Nassarawa Airport (Sheikh Usman Dan Fodio), Osubi Airport (Alfred Diete Spiff), Port Harcourt Airport (Obafemi Jeremiah Awolowo) and Yola Airport (Lamido Aliyu Mustapha).
Engr. Makinde had been insistent on his desire to have the Ladoke Akintola Airport upgraded to an international status. It is thus dream come true.
