{"id":8751,"date":"2013-08-21T11:40:00","date_gmt":"2013-08-21T11:40:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/disnaija.com\/nigerian-newspapers\/faan-and-quest-for-befitting-airports-in-nigeria\/"},"modified":"2013-08-21T11:40:00","modified_gmt":"2013-08-21T11:40:00","slug":"faan-and-quest-for-befitting-airports-in-nigeria","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/disnaija.com\/faan-and-quest-for-befitting-airports-in-nigeria\/","title":{"rendered":"FAAN and quest for befitting airports in Nigeria"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n

From Suleiman Idris, Lagos<\/p>\n

The transformation agenda of the current administration has recorded varying degree of success in different sectors. One of the areas where the agenda has been quite successful is the aviation sector, with many airports wearing a modern look and air travellers having a positively different experience from what had been their lot in the past, as the airports are better, more beautiful and more efficient.
Although the transformation agenda in the sector has been championed by the Minister, Princess Stella Oduah, the driver of the process is the Managing Director\/Chief Executive Officer of the Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), Mr. George Uriesi, who has brought about many changes in the nation\u2019s airport in just two years.
However, Uriesi\u2019s efforts at changing the face of the aviation industry in the country have not gone unnoticed as he is to be conferred with the National Productivity Order of Merit (NPOM) award by President Goodluck Jonathan, sequel to the significant improvement he has brought into the management of Nigerian airports since his appointment as the Managing Director of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria in October 2011.<\/p>\n

The transformation of aviation sector has resulted in a new General Aviation Terminal (GAT) at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, a new GAT at the Murtala Mohammed International Airport, Lagos, a new terminal at the Benin Airport and a re-modelled Malam Aminu Kano International Airport, among others. All of the airports had suffered absolute neglect that had made the execution of their basic functions a Herculean task.
Speaking on the rationale behind re-modelling the airports, Uriesi said many of the facilities at the airports had become obsolete with little or no effort to upgrade them despite the fact that aviation passengers had more than doubled over the years. He added that the airports were contending with severe infrastructure maintenance deficit due to a long-term breakdown in planning.
On the benefit of investing in re-modelling the airports, the FAAN CEO, who said the transformation that had happened in the sector would have been impossible without the immense support of the minister, noted that apart from making them more appealing to the users, it would also increase the revenue generation of the agency. He said by the time all the 22 airports were fully re-modelled, the agency would be earning about N126billion annually as against the N24 billion it currently earned.<\/p>\n

According to him, \u201cYou take Enugu for example, if Enugu was making N100 a month and FAAN was spending N1000 on it, the net loss was N900. With the re-modelling, the N100 Enugu was making is going to become N800. It may become profitable as an airport simply because of the commercial offerings it has, or at least it may pay off its bills and save FAAN from subsidising it. So, as we replicate all these, the income from every airport is going to go up, in my estimation, by at least 500 percent.\u201d
While assuring that the new facilities in the airports would be properly maintained to ensure their optimisation, Uriesi said, \u201cWe are going to set up a score-card in all the directorates of FAAN so as to monitor and appraise our performances. Everybody has a stake in the transformation. If we don\u2019t manage FAAN well, it will go the way of Nigeria Airways. We all need to realise that is what would happen if we are not meeting our financial obligations.\u201d
The re-modelling of the airports is intended to pave the way for aerotropolis, the idea of turning airports to destinations on their own rather than a route to another place with a view to making them an economic hub. This is hinged on the belief that since an airport is a point of convergence for manufacturers, suppliers as well as consumers, it should be provided with the infrastructure that will facilitate aviation related commercial activities within and outside its premises.
\u201cWith this, airports are able to create vast business and employment opportunities and have a profound impact on the economy of the area of location. That is what happens in other climes where airports have a business life of their own and offer other services such as luxury boutiques, restaurants, spas and gadget shops, among others.<\/p>\n

Speaking on this, Uriesi said, \u201cThe way the airports are designed is that they do not give room for non-aeronautical revenue. The present ratio of aeronautical revenue to non-aeronautical is about 80-20; this is not ideal. We are going to offer people more investment opportunities, propping up non-aeronautical revenue. That is, we are going to make more commercial offerings with more investment opportunities, so that we will have a successful business model, and we\u2019ll be less dependent on aeronautical revenue.<\/p>\n

However, for those travellers using the Malam Aminu Kano International Airport (MAKIA) for international travel have been wondering how the government\u2019s much touted transformation agenda in the airport works. The airport, which has a \u201cre-modeled\u201d international terminal building majestically spread across the apron in bright red colours, has been lying in disuse.
There is equally a domestic terminal named after one of aviation\u2019s towering giants, Muhammadu Adamu Dankabo. After its completion, it lied fallow until the Central Bank of Nigeria, through its corporate social responsibility schemes, came in to furnish its lounges.
Of recent, there have been several outcries by stakeholders, including the Kano Chamber of Commerce that the white elephant standing as the international terminal building be opened to the public for their use. After all, the government that built it said it has finished work on this airport and its attention is now on Lagos, Port Harcourt, and other airports.<\/p>\n

In its comment on the issue, the Kano Chambers of Commerce raised a simple question: How can all those airlines desirous of landing in Kano come when the infrastructure and basic facilities for their use are unavailable?
However, in a reaction, the spokesman of the Aviation ministry, Mr. Yakubu Dati, along with some directors in the FAAN have taken turns to accuse the Kano stakeholders and the newspapers that cover their views as engaging in politics of blackmail.
Dati said, \u201cAn airport viability and utilisation is dependent on passenger movement\u201d and added that it would be \u201cdifficult for economic activities to go on under threats to lives and property\u201d, claiming that their attacks on the project were political:
\u201cAttacks against the project (MAKIA) in some sections of the media are to score cheap political points\u201d as the criticisms stemmed from \u201cignorance and mischief of some anti-progressive elements\u201d.
He further said: \u201cIf the terminal or the airport is alleged to be dormant, it means there is low passenger movement and it is not the responsibility of FAAN or the Ministry of Aviation to attract passengers to the airport\u201d.<\/p>\n

While it will be dishonest of anyone to deny that Boko Haram insurgency in Northern Nigeria had caused much damage to Kano, it is not right for an official to blame the fortunes of the airport as regards to its non-usage to insecurity. Moreso, when for Kano and much of the North, the worst is now over.
Stakeholders have said that \u201cto blame \u2018unseen hands\u2019 for influencing newspaper reports calling for the completion and utilisation of the Kano airport is nothing short of blackmail. They say imagined conspiracies cannot be a substitute for the political will to do things right at first and that it is unpardonable not being able to plan, implement, monitor and evaluate a worthwhile government project.
All things said, this government should take the full benefit of the suffering being visited upon international passengers using the Malam Aminu International Airport.
What Kano people do not lack is entrepreneurial and business skills but without the needed infrastructure, these alone cannot bring about the transformation the government wishes to achieve.<\/p>\n

The post FAAN and quest for befitting airports in Nigeria appeared first on Peoples Daily Newspaper, Nigeria.<\/p>\n

————————————————————————————————————————-
Posted in Nigerian Newspapers. <\/a>A DisNaija.Com<\/a> network.<\/p>\n

Source: People’s Daily Newspaper<\/p>\n

DisNaija.Com<\/b> publishes regular posts on Nigeria News,<\/a> Nigerian Newspapers,<\/a> Online Nigeria Gist.<\/a><\/p>\n

Follow us on Twitter<\/a> and Facebook<\/a>.<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

Nigerian Newspapers<\/a>
\n
\nFollow @Dis_Naija<\/a>
\n