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MATTERS ARISING: IDO-OSUN AIRPORT AND SCANDALOUS EDE AIRPORT AWARDED TO INTERIOR DECORATION FIRM

Published by admin on June 18th, 2026.

MATTERS ARISING: IDO-OSUN AIRPORT AND SCANDALOUS EDE AIRPORT AWARDED TO INTERIOR DECORATION FIRM

There seems to be a lot of back and forth on the abandoned MKO Abiola International Aiport Ido-Osun and the ongoing Ede International Airport that I term a “needless airport.” It is important I set the record straight and clear a lot of grey areas on these two projects.

The first airstrip in British West Africa was built in Ido-Osun in 1936, after a large expanse of land was acquired in Ido-Osun in 1933 by the then Governor-General of Nigeria, Governor-General Bernard Bourdillon. No doubt, the first aircraft landed in Nigeria in Kano in 1925, but on a yellow sand—not a constructed aviation facility.

It is, however, sad to note that while three other major pilot airstrips that the British Royal Air Force of the colonial administration built—Kano, Maiduguri, and Lagos—have all grown to become international airports, only Ido-Osun has been left out.

Recall that a thorough geo survey was carried out by the British, and it discovered that Ido-Osun had the highest flat-top plateau in the then British West Africa, and a favourable aviation weather.

Under the leadership of Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola, the then Osun state governor, the state acquired more land, liaised with the Ministry of Aviation. But sadly, his government could not do much until Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola came with a vision to upgrade it to an international airport.

The initial colonial runway was not sufficient for a standard airport; hence the Aregbesola’s administration completely realigned with an initial design of a 3-kilometer runway.

Work commenced with all needed approval from the aviation regulatory agencies. Note, most airports runway in Nigeria, though largely for domestic purposes, are between 2.7 kilometers to 3.1 kilometers . In the course of building the runway, because of its proposed international airport status, the runway design was again redesigned to 3.5 kilometers. Designed to accommodate wide-body aircraft and medium-sized jets. The Aregbesola administration also fenced the entire airport corridor to prevent land encroachment. This objective was largely achieved before the airport project got stuck after almost 2 kilometers of the runway to the earth work was achieved.

Efforts by the Aregbesola administration to get a concessionaire to finish the project did not work.

In 2019, I assumed duty as the Honourable Commissioner for Works and Transport under which purview the airport project was. The then Governor, Adegboyega Oyetola, mandated us to revive the construction. In the process of reviewing the construction with some aviation experts, we noticed some flaws, majorly the fire station and the control tower design which we agreed in our correspondence with the Federal Ministry of Aviation to reposition. We agreed to all necessary corrections that the technical team from the Federal Ministry of Aviation raised. But again we got stuck with financial challenge. You will recollect that Business Day newspaper referred to Osun in 2019 as an insolvent state, which was using 92% of her revenue to pay debt. It was tough to survive. But at the end of the administration of Oyetola, a whopping N97 billion of Osun loan was repaid without him borrowing a kobo. That was just an aside.

Continuing with the airport project with Osun funds was clearly not a priority when education, health, and road infrastructure were in dire need of Government’s attention.

Governor Oyetola courted Federal Government support for the airport project. He visited the then President, Muhammadu Buhari and the then Aviation Minister, Hadi Sirika, on the need for them to help. Several efforts were made for appropriation for the project by the Senate Committee .The Federal Ministry of Aviation later agreed to support the development of the project. Infact a member of the House of Representatives representing Ede South/Ede North/Egbedore/Ejigbo, Honorable Bamidele Salam, on the floor of the House of Representatives in 2021, told the world that Ido-Osun Airport has surpassed a stage that any reasonable country would wish it buried, explaining that about 2 kilometers of the runway had been completed to formative level, noting that it was only awaiting paving.

According to Honourable Bamidele Salam, who incidentally is the current spokesperson of the Ademola Adeleke Campaign Organisation: “If nothing is done to revive the MKO Abiola Airport project, It will go down the drain after several billions of naira had been spent on it.”

Quoting Hon. Salam again, “If nothing is done to revive the MKO Airport project in Ido-Osun, several billions of naira already spent on the project will go down the drain.”

The Oyetola administration agreed with him and made more efforts to ensure that the project was revived.

Governor Oyetola approached the Nigerian Air Force under the leadership of AVM Amao. The two statesmen agreed to look at our proposal—look at the viability of the airport project.

The Air Force, after a deep technical reflection, agreed that the Ido Osun airport was suitable for their proposed Aviation City because of its historical and technical potentiality. A positioning structural height restriction survey around the airport corridor was also carried out. It came out well except for an overhead water within the Adeleke Secondary school compound that needed to be relocated.

Under the joint agreement, the aviation city was to provide civil and military air flight operations as well as other artillery aviation services. And in furtherance to the Osun State Government agreement with the Nigerian Air Force for seamless implementation of the partnership, the Nigerian Air Force Research and Development Institute (AFRDI) was immediately relocated from Kaduna to Osun to leverage on the Osogbo’s machine tools industry and Ido Osun Airport corridor. The Institute is a key hub for military innovation, robotics, artificial intelligence (AI), and Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) production.

Shortly afterwards, an administrative office for Nigerian Air Force Research and Development Institute (AFRDI) was built in Ido Osun. The Osun State Ministry of Works and the Nigerian Air Force technical team jointly redesigned what was meant to be the first Nigerian Aviation City.

A helipad was immediately constructed in 2021 by the Nigerian Air Force in Ido Osun to ease the movement of equipment and materials needed for the development of the Aviation City. The constructed helipad was the first in Osun. It was going to be a dream come true for the people of Ido-Osun, in particular, and Osun State, in general. That lofty dream never became. Adegboyega Oyetola lost his re-election bid and the project gut stuck thereafter on assumption of office of Governor Ademola Adeleke.

The government decided to abandon the MKO Abiola International Airport Ido Osun project and, in stead, started a new one in his hometown of Ede.

Rather that devoting resources to help farmers in Ede to make agriculture produce available in abundance, Mr Governor was plausibly fixated on the personal financial gains the project seem to bring. His government awarded the Ede International Airport for a whopping sum of N99.5 billion to an interior decoration designer, SHOWIE-TEE GLOBAL SERVICES LTD (RC-1865472 ).

Evidence of the procurement process of the awarded Ede International airport can be gotten from the Osun State e-Procurement portal https://egp.osunstate.gov.ng/publication.php.
Awarding an International airport project to a company registered primarily for Interior/Exterior Decoration Services, a firm with no known history of aviation construction and engineering projects is SCANDALOUS!

Despite the Federal Ministry of Aviation and Aerospace Development rejecting Ede as an approved location for an international airport in letter Ref. No. 5.12/19/1/Vol.VI/188, the Ademola Adeleke-led administration turned a deaf ears to the Aviation ministry directive: they continued with the Ede Airport project.

Governor Adeleke, who doubles as the state Commissioner for Works, through his purpoted Airport Technical Committee insisted on abandoning the MKO International Airport Ido-Osun on the claim of encroachment and that the available runway of 3.5 kilometers was not sufficient and unsuitable for a full-fledged airport, a blatant lie that available evidence has dispelled.

What is the GDP of Osun that N100 billion will be invested in another airport?

Unfortunately, Honourable Bamidele Salam seems to have lost his voice on the Ede Airport shenanigans and the project appears to be moving fast.

To stop the wasting of people’s resources on white elephant project, all hands must be on deck to ensure Governor Adeleke does not get re-election. Patriots and good spirited citizens must stop the impunity being perpetrated by the current government in Osun.

The Federal Ministry of Aviation and Aerospace Development and the anti-graft agencies are implored to block this corruption conduit pipe of Osun State Government .

Engr Oluremi Omowaiye, Osun’s former Commissioner for Works and Transportation, wrote from Ilesa, Osun State