An aviation expert and former Chairman of Airport Concession Committee of the Federal Government, Captain Dele Ore, has said the M. K. O. Abiola International Airport at Ido-Osun will be one of the most viable in Nigeria when completed.
He said the project has huge potentials to contribute to the growth of the nation’s economy.
Ore, who recalled his various landings at what used to be an airstrip before the upgrade into a full-fledged airport, urged Governor Rauf Aregbesola not to listen to sceptics.
The aviation expert said such people condemned the project on what he (Ore) described as uninformed positions.
Ore, who was in the delegation of aviation experts who visited Aregbesola, said he laughed at the ignorance of those who criticised the project.
The former pilot said the state would not be able to cope with the jobs opportunities the airport would bring to the state.
He said: “I have listened to arguments of some people who are asking why Osun is building an airport. I have told people like that that, look, let’s build airport in every village. It will bring the populace to the area.
“When it is completed, the concept of aerotropolis (human settlements connected to the airport), which we are talking about, will make the whole world want to come there for leisure, for business shopping and other reasons.”
Aregbesola said the government considered economic and historical factors in the development of the international airport.
The governor told the team of investors that, as the site where airlifting was done in the British West Africa, the Ido Osun airstrip possessed some historical attractions for future tourists.
He said: “The Europeans don’t just act on instincts. They studied the Geography of West Africa. Because they were preparing for the First World War, they knew that they would airlift troops from here to Sudan en route Burma. They asked for a flat place where they could easily configure to land an aircraft. And that was how Ido Osun became the first landing strip in British West Africa.”