How to drive viability for States' airports , by FAAN boss

 

How to drive viability for States' airports , by FAAN boss

The Managing Director / Chief Executive of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), Mrs Olubunmi Kuku has prescribed pills required to make many airports littering the country, including aerodromes built by State Governments economically viable.

Kuku said though some of the airports , including the 32 managed on behalf of the Federal Government by FAAN , have not attracted the needed returns in terms of funds committed into them, shutting the facilities down , she insisted is not an option.

Speaking in an interview, Kuku said a series of engagements are ongoing between FAAN, the concerned State Governments and development financing institutions on the steps that must be taken to drive the viability of such facilities.

The FAAN boss listed the steps to include :  increasing  economic activity around the airports,  improving the infrastructure linkage to the airport facilities, 

making sure that the road network that leads into the airport and  transit facilities are available.

Another measure, Mrs Kuku said, is to deepen collaboration with the concerned authorities on the intentional support facilities that will drive cargo development around such airports.

Citing FAAN's collaboration with Lagos State Government, Mrs Kuku said efforts are underway to construct a road in Alimosho local government area to make movement around the Lagos Airport smooth.

She said some of the affected airports could be positioned as facilities to drive the distribution of agro produce for consumption within the country as well as for export.

Mrs Kuku said : " So you've already made the investment in infrastructure, so what you need to do is really to plug that investment so that you can improve

" And if you've had conversations with me over the last few months, what I will say to you is that there are two things. 

"One is the economics of the airports, which is viability, but secondly, is also the social impact that the airport brings into driving the economy, or at least helping us to turn around the economy, in terms of the interventions that we're putting there.

" 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, so 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  Minister, have worked very closely with some of the state governments in terms of what they can do.

"One is largely around cargo. I think cargo is a sweet spot for us in the market. The states like Kano , Plateau ,  Ogun State,, 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, the various segments of cargo, I think agro produce is part of the critical areas that we have been looking at . This key , because agro produce  will accelerate the drive for  food security, so distribution of food items in the market, specifically within Nigeria, 

"Certain items that can be exported. What that means is that in terms of the bottom of the chain in the value system . FAAN is  working very closely with many development financing institutions  to aggregate the produce that need to go out, 

" This partnership will ensure there is a  database that also focuses on packaging, logistics as well as putting place  testing laboratories  around some of those airports, so that we can at least start to drive a lot more cargo activity."

She spoke on the need to develop the hospitality industry , such that activities related to tourism will drive economic activities.

Kuku said : "  Look, I think if we want to drive economic activity at these  airports, it is really to make sure that we're able to drive the GDP growth, which are the key inhabitants. So that's one. 

" The second is really about improving the infrastructure linkage to the airport facilities, making sure that a collaboration between ourselves and the state government and, of course, at the federal level as well, making sure that the road network that leads into the airport, making sure that the transit facilities that are available.

"  I'll give some examples, the Federal Capital Territory  for example, 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 the Lagos State Government this week, they do have a road that is coming in from Alimosho to  open up the area. So the linkage is very important in terms of making sure that we can actually drive this activity." 

While describing improvement on airports' infrastructure as work in progress, the FAAN boss said efforts are ongoing to scale up  safety certification for more aerodromes .

She said : " So the Lagos and Abuja airports are two of our critical gateways. As you know, we have five international airports in Nigeria which  provide access to our international community. Before December, when those airports were certified, we were literally running airports that are not being certified, which is largely against the global standards.

" . There were a number of gaps that were identified. Some were safety and security related. Some had to do with the state of the infrastructure. Some had to do with policy and documentation. We were 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, and that's just two runways. The priority for the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority and ourselves at an airport authority  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 did for Lagos and Abuja."