Edo State Authorities and the management of the Peoples Democratic Get together, PDP, within the state have renewed their verbal hostility over the previous’s deliberate institution of a State-owned Airline.

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DAILY POST stories that the Edo State Governor, Monday Okpebholo had throughout a gathering with the Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Improvement, Mr Festus Keyamo on Thursday, January 22, 2026, in Abuja introduced the State’s plan to drift Edo Air.

Okpebholo opined that the proposed Edo Air initiative is a strategic challenge of the State Authorities geared toward strengthening the state’s aviation ecosystem, enhancing air connectivity, stimulating financial actions, and opening new funding alternatives throughout the state.

Commenting on the challenge, the Edo State chapter of the PDP described the initiative as an ill-conceived proposal, a textbook instance of misplaced priorities and one more publicity of a authorities profoundly disconnected from the pressing realities confronting the Edo individuals.

An announcement by Dan Osa-Ogbegie, Publicity Secretary of the Folks’s Democratic Get together in Edo State famous that the concept of creating an airline will not be solely unrealistic but in addition profoundly insensitive at a time when the State is grappling with decaying infrastructure, worsening city situations, and stalled strategic tasks.

Osa-Ogbegie added that working an airline is capital-intensive, technically demanding, and traditionally disastrous for many sub-national governments in Nigeria.

He additionally added that it requires huge upfront funding, steady subsidies, and world-class operational competence, none of which the Edo State Authorities presently demonstrates.

Whereas noting that Edo State doesn’t want an airline to fly above its issues, the occasion acknowledged that it wants a authorities ready to confront the issues squarely on the bottom.

He posited that the event begins with fixing the fundamentals, restoring confidence, and pursuing sensible, people-centred priorities.

The occasion known as on the State Authorities to right away jettison “this ill-advised airline fantasy and redirect its focus to the urgent wants of Edo individuals.

He mentioned something much less solely reinforces the rising notion of a authorities with out course, seriousness, competence, or a coherent improvement agenda.

In line with him, Benin Metropolis, the capital of Edo State, has regrettably turn out to be a shadow of what a state capital needs to be in a contemporary federation in contrast with different state capitals throughout Nigeria. Benin Metropolis at the moment presents an unbelievably bucolic and embarrassing outlook.

“Roads inside the metropolis are largely impassable, city planning has collapsed, drainage techniques are uncared for, and primary municipal companies are both weak or fully absent. This can be a crying disgrace for a metropolis with Benin’s historical past, heritage, and large potential.

“Crucial state belongings and initiatives which this administration met in pristine or near-functional situations are already in seen decline. The Museum of West African Artwork (MOWAA), as soon as projected as a flagship cultural and tourism driver, is grounded. The Radisson Lodge challenge has stagnated at nearly the identical degree for months.

“The Ossiomo energy challenge, which needs to be energising industrial development, is drifting dangerously in direction of a comatose state. EdoGIS, a revenue-critical land administration establishment, is nearly non-existent in its affect, effectivity, and credibility. These failures strike on the very coronary heart of improvement, jobs, income technology, and investor confidence, but they continue to be largely unaddressed.

“Quite than confront these obtrusive failures, Governor Monday Okpebholo has displayed an uncanny penchant for indulging in white elephant tasks that supply optics with out substance. The continued flyovers at Ramat Park and Adesuwa Junction on Sapele Street exemplify this tendency.

“These are costly, poorly prioritised interventions in a metropolis desperately in want of complete street rehabilitation, drainage options, visitors administration, and coherent city renewal.

“This fixation on floor however misaligned tasks solely reinforces the fact of an administration that was by no means adequately ready for the rigours of governance and now seems rudderless, reactive, and bereft of concepts past headline-chasing spectacles.

“Towards this bleak backdrop, the sudden announcement of plans to drift a state airline will not be merely unserious; it’s diversionary and cretinous. When roads within the metropolis are barely motorable, when public transport is chaotic, when healthcare services are overstretched, when faculties lack primary infrastructure, and when safety stays fragile, proposing an airline betrays a daunting absence of judgment, financial sense, and improvement logic.

“The Edo PDP firmly believes that scarce state revenues needs to be channelled into areas with direct, broad-based affect: complete rehabilitation of city and inter-city roads; trendy drainage and flood-control techniques; revitalisation of public faculties and hospitals; dependable energy and water provide.

“Assist for small and medium-scale enterprises; youth abilities acquisition and job creation; safety structure; and the completion and optimisation of current strategic tasks already commenced with public funds”, he mentioned.