Rotimi Amaechi, the Minister of Transport has given his two cents to state governments urging them to forget about undertaking new projects that would not profit the poor and downtrodden but would only care for the needs of the rich.

The minister stated that the socio-economic climate of the state should be favorable before a governor attempts to embark on airport projects.

Amaechi revealed this during a chat with newsmen in Abeokuta, where he was on an assessment visit to some projects executed by the Ogun State government on behalf of the Federal Government.

He also said that Nigeria has many airports that have turned out to be useless.

“Governors should focus on those things that would improve on the lives of the poor, not the rich. It’s the rich people that fly plane. How many poor people know where airport is much more fly an aircraft?”

“I believe that the construction of airport should be backed by the growth of the economy. There are some airports that are constructed just for the governors to land and take off. That won’t be the idea for me as minister of transportation.

“I’d prefer that all airports that are constructed would be backed by economic demand. And when we look at the numbers, if the numbers add up. We would not discourage Ogun State if you like to construct an airport, but we would like to advise that they should look at the economics of an airport,” he said.

The minister however, said that the Federal Government is committed to the completion of new terminals of the nation’s four international airports in Abuja, Lagos, Port Harcourt and Kano.

Also, he revealed that the construction of railway between Lagos and Calabar as well as Lagos and Kano would commence this year.

“I am convinced that most of the roads have been constructed. By the time we write the report, we have engineers, we have people from the Public Procurement Department, they would assess the cost and put it in the report,” he said.

Adebayo Emuleomo