Stakeholders laud Kuku over Abuja, Lagos airports certification
BY CHUKWUEMEKE IWELUNMO
The latest recertification of the two major airports, Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport Abuja and Murtala Mohammed International airport Ikeja is coming almost four years after they lost the privilege due to some lapses identified by the aviation regulatory body in 2020.
Though the two managing directors that had held sway at the organization tried their best, but their efforts did not yield many dividends until the appointment of the present MD, Mrs Olubunmi Kuku, who happened to be the first female personality to occupy such a position not only in FAAN, but in the entire sector.
Right from her first day in office, Kuku had assured key players that the authority will continue to be the bastion of excellent service delivery in the country.
Her efforts to meet ICAO regulatory conditions through infrastructural upgrades and technical manpower development at the airports, prepared the ground for the recertification of the Lagos and Abuja airports by the NCAA, a feat which has been generating reactions from key players across the country.
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Many of the key players who spoke to our correspondent have unanimously agreed that with the recertification of the two airports saying, confidence was being restored at the country’s airports.
In his reaction, a member of the Aviation Round Table (ART), Mr Olumide Ohunayo attributed the recertification of the airports to the hard work and diligence of the FAAN MD.
“I want to look at it as a hard work of the FAAN diligent MD, fantastic woman who doesn’t talk much and not out to impress people but just facing her work irrespective of what the economy or the environment and the heat is all about. I think we must give her that credit.
So, I will also not shy away from commending the director general of the NCAA for working with the FAAN MD in ensuring this has happened. What we should do now is how to sustain it because we knew how these two airports had been certified before and we lost it and look at the long time it took to get it back. Now that they have got it back they must emulate NCAA by ensuring that they retain and even surpass the expectations by making sure those gaps are closed through continuous monitoring and maintenance and where necessary certification for training.
“Now we should move beyond these two airports and see if we can get all the international airports certified, because when you get all those international airports certified, you are reducing the cost of insurance for operators and other service providers at the airports and once the cost of operations is reduced then we are expecting that consumers of those products will also benefit from it, so I want those certified airports sustained and they should move towards other international airports before we move to other domestic airports. Congratulations to the FAAN team most especially their diligent MD.”
A renowned international labour leader in the sector, Comrade Olayinka Abioye in his remarks, said the ability of the FAAN MD to within the eleven months she took over the management of the authority to close the gaps discovered four years ago leading to the subsequent recertification of the airports, showed that under her FAAN has the suitably qualified personnel and dedicated workforce to accomplish greater things.
His words: “This latest one comes after four years when the same two airports were certified by our CAA as having met Standard Recommended Practices and Procedures, with risk management element, which also meets the demands/requirements and or expectations of airline operators in whose benefits these requirements are considered and put in place. By all means, it is a win-win situation for both FAAN as an airport operator and all airlines both local and international.
“As there is no gainsaying the significance of this laudable accomplments, it is a great way of showcasing FAAN as an organisation ready to do serious business and ready to comply with Recommended Practices and Procedures of the ICAO and the local regulatory authority, the CAA. The Olubunmi Kuku led FAAN has therefore shown commitment in this regard and I want to believe that this success will galvanize FAAN to move ahead for the certification of other major airports more so with the renewed Federal Government planned concession and or commercialisation of these airports, all things being equal.
“As I often said, FAAN has the suitably qualified personnel and dedicated workforce to accomplish greater things if given the opportunity to do so, but you will also agree that several issues had been politicised in the past which tended to have affected almost everything and everyone.
“My thinking now is that under the Kuku led administration, FAAN is poised for growth, expansion and there are many areas which require attention that can help deepen internal revenue generation process and if these areas are attended to in good time, infrastructure upgrade and worker motivation can further enhance FAAN visibility as a serious organisation that means business and ready for foreign direct investments”.
