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From Priscilla Ediare, Ado-Ekiti
United Nigeria Airlines has handed over a community health centre, a solar-powered borehole and a perimeter fence to Aso-Ayegunle, Ado-Ekiti, with Governor Biodun Oyebanji pledging medical equipment, personnel and consumables to make the facility functional.
The airline’s Executive Chairman, Obiora Okonkwo, said the intervention would improve the welfare of residents around the Ekiti Agro-Allied International Cargo Airport and demonstrate how businesses could support government in meeting community needs.
He disclosed that local residents handled about 90 per cent of the construction jobs, with outside expertise engaged where specialised skills were required.
Oyebanji welcomed the investment, saying it complemented efforts to expand primary healthcare across the state, where about 180 health centres had been rehabilitated, remodelled or newly constructed in four years.
“A building alone does not treat, and it does not heal,” the governor said, assuring residents that the government would provide the resources needed for effective services.
He urged the community to protect the facilities, while Okonkwo promised to monitor their impact and consider further assistance. “The Sun” (https://thesun.ng/united-nigeria-airlines-hands-over-health-center-solar-powered-borehole-to-ekiti-community/).
The commissioning followed the foundation-laying ceremony in February, when the airline said it selected the projects after consultations on the needs of communities near the airport.
Okonkwo had explained that government officials identified a medical centre and potable water as priorities.
Although the suggestion was for the company to undertake either project, it decided to provide both.
“We don’t just do business, we are in partnership for development, we impact society,” he said at the foundation-laying ceremony.
He linked the intervention to the state government’s selection of United Nigeria Airlines as its carrier, expressing hope that the relationship would produce further benefits for residents.
Speaking at that ceremony, Oyebanji’s representative and Special Adviser on Tertiary Education, Akeem Azeez, said healthcare and clean water were essential to improving living conditions.
Community spokesperson Peter Falade described the projects as significant contributions to residents’ welfare and pledged that the community would protect them.
The airline operated the inaugural commercial flight into the airport from Abuja on December 10, 2025, before departing for Lagos with another set of passengers.
The community projects also form part of the airline’s wider engagement in Ekiti, which includes a renewable, 10-year partnership with Afe Babalola University, Ado-Ekiti, for aeronautical and aerospace engineering training.
Under the arrangement, the airline said it would make its facilities available to students to strengthen practical learning, skills transfer and professional development, without financial commitment from the university.
Speaking during the signing, Okonkwo said corporate social responsibility should also include sharing knowledge and preparing young people for productive careers.
“Knowledge is the most powerful tool you can empower somebody with,” he said, urging stronger collaboration between businesses and educational institutions.
