REDEEMED Christian Church of God (RCCG) general overseer Pastor Enoch Adeboye has commenced the building of Nigeria's first ever private airport as part of a massive investment programme that involves him building another massive Redemption Camp site.

Pastor Adeboye, 73, is one of Nigeria's most influential clergymen with a passionate following that runs into millions. So influential is the clergyman that successive Nigerian governments have sought his support, British prime minister David Cameron attends his London church seminars and the likes of Forbes have had to acknowledge his clout. 

His latest plan to build a private airport is expected to take his influence to new heights as apart from the fact that his aircraft will use the facility, it is expected that so too will the private jets of visiting presidents. Pastor Adeboye has acquired thousands of hectares of land in Shimawa town of Ogun State, close to the Redemption Camp One and work has begun on the project.

This new facility in Shimawa is located behind the Redemption Camp site and the large expanse of land measuring thousands of hectares has been fenced round. Simultaneously, Pastor Adeboye has also embarked on the construction of another Redemption Camp, nearby, which he has named The Private Road.

Apparently, this new Redemption Camp is four times bigger than the present one which can host almost 1m people and cost a whopping $60m to build. This new Redemption Camp which is estimated to cost $200m is near completion and is expected to host the church's annual Holy Ghost Convention in December, by which time the airstrip is also expected to be completed. 

At the start of the project, the land where the private airport is sited had been the subject of a legal dispute for years. However, the litigants in the dispute, the Bankole-Otasanya family eventually agreed to an out of court settlement that involved heavy compensation even though some of the members are said to be still aggrieved.