The Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo, has said President Bola Tinubu has directed him to explore other sources of income to fund the Abuja second runway project.

The Minister said this exclusively to The PUNCH in a telephone conversation on Monday.

It will be recalled that following dire need, the Federal Government in April 2009 unveiled plans to construct a second runway at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, at an estimated cost of N64bn.

Under successive ministers, the Chinese contractors reviewed the contract price upward, claiming conditions in the economy were the cause of the increment. The amount rose to N90bn in 2023 and surged to N532bn by 2025 for the same contract.

Following this astronomical increase, the minister rejected the contract sum and has yet to announce an acceptable amount for the project.

The project, championed by the then Minister of Aviation, Babatunde Omotoba, was designed as a 4.5-kilometre runway capable of accommodating the world’s largest passenger aircraft, such as the Airbus A380 and Boeing 777, among others. The proposed runway was to be 75 metres wide and equipped with Category III airfield lighting.

Giving an update on the project, the minister hinted that the President had instructed him to pursue alternative funding options, separate from the existing budgetary framework.

“The Federal Government has resolved on an alternative source of income, and we have gone very far with that alternative source. We will reveal it very soon. We will do the second runway; we will deliver it,” he added.

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