The Managing Director of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) , Mrs. Olubunmi Kuku, has stated that she will do all it takes to uphold her major priorities in the aviation industry which includes safety and infrastructural development .
While giving details about the progress of activities in Airports across the country during an on air interview, she explained that minimal intervention has been carried out to make sure that the airports are viable while the Authority focuses on the large infrastructure projects and rehabilitating some of the facilities.
“I’m sure that if you’ve been a traveling passenger over the last 90 days, you will see that the airports are cleaner, they’re friendlier in terms of the atmosphere. We’ve lit up some of those airports a lot more and it’s more spacious in certain areas. If you fly through the domestic airport in Abuja, you would notice that there’s a lot that has been done. If you came into that airport about six months to a year ago, it was dark, it was almost like the hall of doom. We’ve lit up that airport tremendously.
“We’ve opened up the space, the seating arrangements in terms of the facility and of course what we hear everyone complain about which is the conveniences. We now have better access for people with disability, making sure that some of the elevators and the escalators are functional, making sure that things like the toilets are also functional and really focusing on a lot of expansion works across that airport. The same thing goes if you’re going to the north, if you’re going to the south or the southeast, you will see similar projects and similar progress that is being made.”
She affirmed that she doesn’t recommend shutting the airports that are not thriving instead, cargo, tourism, transit hub and infrastructure linkage to the airport facilities should improve.
“I do not recommend shutting down those airports at all. In terms of the interventions that we’re putting through, there are four critical areas that we’re focusing on in terms of how we flood those airports and improving the state of the airport.
“One is to increase economic activity around the airports. Our commercial and business development team as well as myself, obviously with the guidance of the Honorable Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo have worked very closely with some of the state government in terms of what they can do.
“I think cargo is a sweet spot for us in market. The states like Kano, Jos, Ogun even though Ogun is not our airport, they’re looking to drive cargo effectively as well but it’s not just about building the infrastructure or investing more in the infrastructure on ground. It’s really making sure that there’s a feeder system that starts all the way from the bottom of the value chain to drive cargo.Agro and pharma are two critical areas that we have been looking at. Agro specifically around making sure that there’s food security, so distribution of food items in market, specifically within Nigeria and of course certain items that can be exported.
“What that means is that in terms of the bottom of the chain, building the value systems, making sure that the states are working very closely with Development Finance Institutions (DFI) in terms of aggregating the products or the produce that need to go out, making sure that you’re sort of aggregating a database that also focuses on packaging, logistics, also testing labs around some of those airports so that we can at least start to drive a lot more cargo activity.
“Another area is tourism, I know there’s been a lot of noise about Detty December in Lagos.If we want to drive economic activity at the airports, we really need to make sure that we’re able to drive the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth, which are the key inhabitants.
“The infrastructure linkage to the airport facilities should be improved.This is about making sure that there is a collaboration between ourselves, the state government, and federal government as well, making sure that the road network that leads into the airport are viable and making sure that the transit facilities are in good condition.For example, FCT has a rail line that terminates at the airport. It makes it easier for people to come there, whether they’re traveling passengers or to conduct economic activity at the airport.
“We recently had a meeting with Lagos state government.They do have a road that is coming in from Alimosho, which will also open up the area. So the linkage is very important in terms of making sure that we can actually drive this activity. Transit hubs should be established in certain locations like Lagos and Abuja, and those are the main areas that we’re looking at.”
While speaking about concessioning major airports in the country, Kuku said the Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development has been working very closely with FAAN to make sure that the concession process is thorough as there has been a review .
She disclosed that recently, at an Aviation Roundtable meeting, stakeholders recommended a range of measures.She opined that setting up another institution for financing is not necessary, instead, specialized financing should be looked at.
“There were some adverts that were put in the paper, which were more of notices a couple of weeks ago, or a couple of months ago, largely around interest or intent in those airports that we’re looking to concession. There are some advisory work that are also ongoing in terms of project development and the economics. Now, when it comes to concessions, it’s one thing to potentially find a private sector partner to work with you on those concessions.
“But what is more important is to make sure that you sort of have the same goals. You’re able to potentially trash out some of the issues that have potentially arose and will continue to arise around. The Honorable Minister has clearly said there will be no job loss. Of course, that also requires conversation in terms of the economics and the financials of what happens.Currently, we’re in project development stage.
“The measures stakeholders recommended, included the establishment of an Aviation Finance Bank, which would be a single-digit lending rate for the sector, the exemption of local refineries from taxation related to production of Jet A-1 fuel. While I respect the Aviation Roundtable heavily in terms of their thoughts and their enormous contributions to the sector, I’m actually not of the opinion that we set up another institution for financing.
“We have a lot of institutions that exist today who are finance houses. So for example, you have some of the commercial banks, even though we know that financing from commercial banks tend to be at double-digit rates. We also have some Government Financial Institutions (GFIs), they’re private equity institutions that we can look at.
“What I do think we need is really more specialized banking or specialized financing that we can leverage. We also need to consider things that would help us improve the financing environment. So some sort of financial instruments, credit guarantees, for example, or backstops for the industry.”
While clarifying her recent announcement about needing N580 billion for rehabilitation of runways which triggered questions , she said she made specific reference to airports that have runways that have exceeded their lifespan, including perimeter roads and fencing.
According to her, the average lifespan of a runway is about 20 to 25 years and a lot of runways in Nigeria have exceeded that time, meaning that they have lasted for 30 to 35 years.
“I’ve seen some commentary where people are saying, what do they need all of this money for? I encourage you, please just look at Google, if you’re in the construction business or in the aviation business, to try and understand what it means to build runways, taxiway links, airport expansion work that we need to do. And of course, to make sure that we put a safe environment together for everything that happens on the airside.”
The FAAN MD informed that before the recent recertification of Lagos and Abuja Airports, the Authority was literally running airports that were not certified, which is largely against the global standards that airport run by. She assured the other airports will be certified within a short period of time . She therefore revealed that a number of gaps that were identified consists of
safety and security issues, state of the infrastructure, policy and documentation.
She also announced that FAAN was able to close a significant amount of gaps, but it doesn’t mean that the work stops.
“‘There’s still some work that needs to be done around those runways to make sure that we’re operating at optimal standards, and we’re working very closely with the Civil Aviation Authority on that.
“The priority for the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) and ourselves at FAAN is to make sure that we can certify the other international airports. The team has been working jointly and very closely over the last couple of weeks to make sure that we can achieve the same success that we had for Lagos and Abuja.
Mrs Kuku mentioned that a magistrate court has been set up in some aiport locations to tackle the issue of bribery , touting and illicit activities.
She said while FAAN has faced some resistance while implementing some policies, she knows that she is bound to step on toes but with caution and not at the jeopardy of the Nigerian airport system. She asserted that if the policies are not working , she will step down and resign.
“I want to use this medium to let every Nigerian know that if any official ask you to support them in any illicit activities, you will find yourself culpable along with that official. So I’m saying very boldly again, and I’m supporting my Honorable Minister to say that our airports are tout-free zones, and we ask that you stop.
“We have come out, we have engaged with our communities, and the Security Council that we met with. The NCAA has also had multiple sessions, and we have made sure that all of the agencies that are working very closely with us understand the implications of our actions. We did find one or two people who were culpable.”
