Aregbesola And His White Elephant Airport Project.

"We are aware that Governor Rauf Aregbesola, on January 8, 2016 through a letter with reference number SP/S96/1/vi/348 re -awarded the airport contract to the same contractor and a payment of N472m was paid as take- off sum".
"The same company  has earlier been paid N2.7bn for the same project without any serious work done". This is an allegation from the Director of Media and Strategy of The Osun PDP, Mr. Diran Odeyemi that Aregbesola unilaterally increased the initial contract sum for the Moshood Abiola Airport from N4.5bn to N15.5bn representing an N11 .5bn increase. This is something the governor has not denied but claims to be due to inflation necessitated by fall in naira. The question on the minds of Nigerians is why the insistence on building an airport when the governor has not paid salaries of it's civil servants for months . This is a state that is made up of predominantly civil servants and petty traders and as much might not afford the luxury of an airport.

Ibadan airport is just a 45 minutes drive by road hence; what is the rationale for embarking on such elephant project ? At a time that oil prices are dwindling and states now receive a fraction of what they got in the past regime, it only makes it look more glaring that the airport project is for another purpose we might not be able to fathom . Instead of engaging in a labour intensive project which would give massive employment to it's indigenes, the governor instead is focussed on a capital intensive project . It is regrettable that the total GDP of the state is at low $7.28bn while it's GDP per capita is a paltry sum of $2,076 and yet the governor feels an airport is a primary need to the indigenes of the state.

Nigerians must hold their leaders accountable and must not wait till election period to voice their displeasure over the way they are governed. It is worthy of note that suddenly the governor has alleged that the cost of the airport was underestimated and hence the need for the additional fund which is a loan from the CBN and to be repaid monthly at N100m from the SURE-P funds , hence part of the N88bn restructured for the state by the CBN for repayment till  year 2034 .  How can one fund such a luxurious project with a monthly loan for 18 years from now meaning it will be paid in 216 months and times . This just shows how our leaders take us all for a ride and it makes no economic sense even to a layman. Aregbesola sure has many questions than answers at present.