Peter Obi Slams FG’s ₦712 Billion Lagos Airport Renovation Plan Amid Soaring Hunger Crisis

Former presidential candidate and Labour Party leader, Mr. Peter Obi, has criticized the Federal Government over the recent approval of ₦712.3 billion for the renovation of a single airport, describing it as “deeply troubling” in the face of widespread hunger and poverty in Nigeria.

Obi made his remarks in a strongly worded post on his official Facebook page, referencing a July report by the United Nations that warned 34 million Nigerians are at risk of hunger. The figure was widely reported in Nigerian media on August 1, the same day the government announced the controversial budget allocation.

“This is not just an abstract statistic,” Obi wrote. “It speaks of real people – our parents, children, neighbours, and friends – who are going to bed hungry and waking up without hope of a meal.”

Obi questioned the government’s priorities, noting that in 2013, Nigeria obtained a $500 million loan from the China Exim Bank, along with counterpart funding, to upgrade five international airports — Lagos, Abuja, Port Harcourt, Kano, and Enugu. He queried the logic behind spending even more on just one airport a decade later, especially as millions face hunger, displacement, and insecurity.

“It is profoundly troubling that at a time when millions of Nigerians are facing the crushing burden of hunger, the Federal Government has chosen to approve a staggering ₦712.3 billion—not to feed its people, not to lift them out of hardship, and not to invest in their well-being, but to renovate an airport,” he said.

Obi stressed that while infrastructure remains important, it cannot come before human development. He maintained that food security is not just a welfare issue but a matter of national security and economic strategy.

“A government that builds grandiose infrastructure while its people starve is not building a nation — it is betraying one,” he said.

He concluded by calling on the government to urgently rethink its priorities and focus resources on critical sectors such as security, health, education, and poverty alleviation.

Obi’s statement has sparked fresh debate about governance, fiscal responsibility, and human development in Nigeria, especially as economic hardship continues to worsen across the country.