The Ebonyi State chapter of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) has described the alleged use of N20billion to rehabilitate the Chuba Okadigbo International Airport Runway Onueke as a huge waste of scarce state resources.
In a statement signed by the Campaign Council of the party’s 2023 governorship candidate, Chief Ifeanyichukwuma Odii accused the state government of wasting its resources on Chuba Okadigbo Airport.
The statement signed by the head of media, Mr Moses Idika, alleged that the state government had wasted billions of naira on the airport that was deemed to have been completed by the past administration of David Umahi.
He disclosed that after spending about N20bn on the rehabilitation of the airport runway, the state government also wasted billions by inviting the wife of the president, Senator Oluremi Tinubu, and the wives of governors from different states of the federation to the state to inaugurate the upgraded runway.
“Perhaps the most astonishing show of profligacy amidst excruciating poverty and hunger is the wasteful spending of Ebonyi State Resources on the Chuba Okadigbo Airport, Onueke, at the slightest snap of a finger.
“Recall that the Airport was inaugurated on May 26, 2023, by then President Muhammadu Buhari. However, by September 2023, Governor Nwifuru announced that he had awarded a N13 billion contract. Information from government sources already indicates that close to N20 billion has been spent on rehabilitating a three-month-old runway.
“This is aside from the fact that just four months earlier, in April 2023, then Governor David Umahi announced that Ebonyi State Government spent N36 billion to build the airport, but unofficial reports put the figure at over N42 billion
“Despite these humongous amounts that were said to have been spent in building the airport, on Friday, November 15, 2024, Governor Nwifuru again rolled out the drums to commission yet again the runway of Chuba Okadigbo Airport.
