Osun State Names Airport After MKO

An airport under construction in Ido-Osun, Osun State, has been named after the acclaimed winner of June 12, 1993 presidential election, Chief MKO Abiola, by the Osun State Government.

Commissioner for Regional Integration and Special Duties, Mr. Ajibola Basiru, stated this on Thursday during a news conference held at the Governor’s Office, Abere, Osogbo.

Basiru said that the aircraft maintenance facility of the airport would be ready by next year, while international flights would also commence next year.

The airport, which was formerly an aerodrome, had been abandoned for several years by subsequent administrations in Osun before the Rauf Aregbesola administration decided to reconstruct it.

Basiru said the fencing of the airport had been completed just as all gates and security facilities of the airport had been completed.

Commenting on Osun Citizens Mediation Centre, a government agency engaged in conflict resolution, Basiru said the centre had received 84 complaints, adding that none of the complaints bordered on religious disagreement.

He said 30 of the complaints had been resolved amicably within the first month of the inauguration of the centre.

Ajibola said plans were ongoing by South-West governments to construct a railway that would pass through the various states in the region.

He said the proposed rail line is tagged, ‘Great Western Rail Line,’ adding that the “rail is the first phase of the project being planned under the current regional integration agenda in the region”.

He added, “The project if completed would further boost the growth and development of the region and will also create employment and commercial activities in the zone.

“Memorandum of Understanding would soon be signed on the arrangement of Public Private Partnership on it and we believe that the project would enable the people, especially the business men and women in the region to transact business without transport hitch.”