Obi Slams ₦712 Billion Airport Renovation Amid Hunger Crisis: “This Is a Betrayal of the People”

Former presidential candidate and Labour Party leader, Mr. Peter Obi, has strongly criticised the Federal Government’s decision to allocate a staggering ₦712.3 billion for the renovation of a single airport, calling it a profound misplacement of national priorities in the face of an escalating hunger crisis affecting millions of Nigerians.

In a statement released Wednesday, Obi cited a recent United Nations report issued in July 2025, warning that over 34 million Nigerians are at risk of hunger, a fact also reported in major national dailies on August 1.

“This is not just an abstract statistic,” Obi noted. “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.”

The timing of the airport renovation announcement has drawn sharp criticism, with Obi questioning the rationale behind such a massive infrastructure budget amid a growing humanitarian emergency.

“It is profoundly troubling,” he said, “that at a time when millions of Nigerians are facing the crushing burden of hunger, the Federal Government has chosen to approve ₦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.”

Obi reminded Nigerians that in 2013, the country already secured a $500 million loan from China Exim Bank, along with counterpart funding, to upgrade five major international airports Lagos, Abuja, Kano, Port Harcourt, and Enugu. “If that massive investment was made barely a decade ago, what justifies an even larger sum today for just one airport?” he questioned.

The former Anambra State governor argued that while infrastructure development is important, it should not take precedence over human development, especially during a crisis. “Development is about choices,” he stated. “A government that builds grandiose infrastructure while its people starve is not building a nation, it is betraying one.”

Calling for an urgent reset in national priorities, Obi said the country must focus on the basics: food security, health, education, and safety. “Food security is a national security and economic strategy,” he added, emphasizing that true development begins with caring for citizens, not with monumental construction projects.

He called on Nigerians that “The time has come to rethink our priorities and put Nigerians first in every policy, every budget, and every decision. A New Nigeria is POssible.”