Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari recently approved renaming 15 airports in Nigeria in a new directive.
The current president, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, has now ratified the list.
This was disclosed in a statement by a former media aide to the Presidency, Bashir Ahmad on Monday afternoon.
The list
The statement read that President Tinubu approved the renaming of 15 of the country’s airports after the immediate past President Muhammadu Buhari and other prominent Nigerians, they are:
- Akure Airport – Olumuyiwa Bernard Aliu
- Benin Airport – Oba Akenzua II
- Dutse Airport – Muhammad Nuhu Sanusi
- Ebonyi Airport – Chuba W. Okadigbo
- Gombe Airport – Brigadier Zakari Maimalari
- Ibadan Airport – Samuel Ladoke Akintola
- Ilorin Airport – Gen. Tunde Idiagbon
- Kaduna Airport – Hassan Usman Katsina
- Maiduguri Airport – Mumammadu Buhari
- Makurdi Airport – Joseph Sarwuan Tarka
- Minna Airpor – Mallam Abubakar Imam
- Nasarawa Airport – Sheikh Usman Danfodio
- Osubi Airport – Alfred Diete Spiff
- Port Harcourt Airport – Obafemi Awolowo
- Yola Airport – Lamido Aliyu Mustapha
Purpose of Renaming
Recall before President Muhammadu Buhari left office on May 29th, he approved the renaming of 15 airports in Nigeria to some notable and influential Nigerians (dead or alive) who have left indelible marks in the service of the country.
Nairametrics reported that the renaming aims to commemorate these individuals’ remarkable lives and legacies and their impact on Nigeria’s development.
Nigerians online reacted passively to the announcement of new airport names, with only a minority disagreeing with the names for the airports.
I hope the government would extend this immortalization gesture to the likes of Chief FESTUS Okotie-Eboh,Mama Olufunmilayo Kuti,Alhaja Kudirat Abiola etc.These are also Martyrs who paid the supreme price for the relative Freedom and the democracy that we are enjoying today, even though it is not yet uhuru.
The sheer vanity and arrogance of our politicians knows no bounds. Should we really be naming so many places after these people who have looted the country, destroyed democracy, fanned the embers of ethnic and religious intolerance, ruined our economy, and install themselves in power continually? Why don’t they do things for which they’ll be positively remembered and honoured first?
It is a good thing immotalising their names for thr roles in governance nd participation in one way or others in running the affairs of ths country.