Oyo State Governor Seyi Makinde has denied claims that President Bola Tinubu gave his administration N50 billion for the upgrade of the Ibadan airport, describing the allegation of special federal intervention as false.
Makinde made the denial during an exclusive interview with ARISE News, while answering questions about increased federal allocations to Oyo State and funding for major infrastructure projects.
“It is a lie. It is a lie,” Makinde said when confronted with the claim that the Tinubu administration provided the money for the airport project.
The governor said his administration approached the Federal Government for approval to upgrade the airport and received the necessary consent in May 2024, but maintained that the approval expressly placed no financial obligation on the Federal Government.
“I wrote to the President,” Makinde said, explaining that the proposal was approved “at no cost to the Federal Government.”
He contrasted Oyo’s experience with federal interventions at airports in other states, saying the Federal Government later provided funding for airport projects elsewhere while Oyo continued with its project without similar financial assistance.
Makinde said the Ibadan airport investment was part of his administration’s strategy to expand Oyo’s productive economy rather than depend on allocations from Abuja.
“Federal allocation is not economic prosperity,” he said.
The governor argued that increased allocations to states must be viewed against inflation, exchange-rate depreciation and the sharply higher cost of running government.
Makinde said Oyo’s monthly salary bill had increased from about N4.5 billion when he assumed office in 2019 to approximately N18 billion, while infrastructure that could be delivered for several billion naira at the beginning of his administration would now cost much more.
He said this showed why higher nominal allocations could not, by themselves, be taken as evidence that states or their residents were better off.
Makinde also linked the argument to his presidential ambition, saying state governments ultimately remained vulnerable to economic decisions taken at the federal level regardless of how carefully they managed their own economies.
“No matter how you design your economy at the state level, when they do stupid things at the federal level, you will not succeed,” Makinde said.
He said that experience was one reason he was seeking the presidency, arguing that decisions on inflation, exchange rates, energy and other national economic issues could undermine development efforts at the state level.
Makinde said his administration’s investment in the Ibadan airport was intended to improve connectivity and support agriculture, trade and other productive activity in Oyo State.
He maintained that the airport project should therefore be judged as part of a broader economic strategy rather than portrayed as a product of preferential funding from the Tinubu administration.
