It takes team work and somebody who is willing and ready to accommodate different opinions to be able to run a system as massive as the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria FAAN
Former General Manager Public Affairs of FAAN Yakubu Dati who made this known in an interview on a television station while commenting on efforts at improving facilities at the nation’s Airports by the managing director of FAAN Olubunmi Kuku says what has happened is the fact that Kuku has tried to put her efforts and experience together by collaborating with other agencies to be able to achieve some level of success in the first few months of her assuming office
He stated that “First and foremost there is a rebound in the aviation sector especially in the area of growth in the airport industry. The new Helmsman who is a lady, I must say for the first time, we are having a lady as the managing Director of FAAN and so within a short time, just bearly eleven months. She has been able to get the Recertification of two Airports in the kitten, which was not done for more than four years ago and putting Nigeria in the global aviation map”
Dati noted that the key factor driving growth in the aviation sector following the recent rating by Cape town compliance CTC are issues bothering on safety and security because safety is number one when it comes to Airport and that is why the umbrella universal safety regulator International Civil aviation organisation ICAO always emphasises on the issue of safety.
He stressed that shortly on assumption within one week in office the Managing Director of FAAN signed the safety protocol and trained about 1400 staff, 2000 man hours of training for both staff and stakeholders
He said ” Aviation is a regulated industry and it is operated based on the technicalities of training and when you talk about people, you are talking about an airport where what is key is people, process and procedure. You have the people, they need the process, they need the technology and that’s where the training comes in.”
“So prioritising training has been able to make her work easier and such a way that in a short time, the early fruits are already dropping for everybody to see ”
Dati emphasised that training is a key factor required for sustainable growth in the aviation sector . “So basically it is training and training because whatever facilities you have, whatever technology you deploy, you need the manpower, and you need manpower that is adequately educated enough, trained to be able to run, that is why emphasises has been on training and I believe with that ongoing, it is going to make room for Sustainability ”
On the recent Recertification of two Airports Lagos and Abuja, Dati noted that the process for other airports is on going as they have to ensure that the gaps are well covered .
“What it means is that other Airports are ongoing, because it is a long process, she inherited the process and has been able to cap two Airports, now that of Kano Airport, Port Harcourt Airport, Enugu Airport are ongoing and very soon, they are going to join the fray. She is also looking at the issue of ensuring that we upgrade the status of the airport to category two and all that requires putting certain infrastructure that is necessary for the categorisation and for that qualification. We believe that what has happened In just one year being in office”
He noted that this Recertification of the two Airports means alot to the flying public “what it means for the flying public is that alot of confidence is being restored in our airports, it also means that for airline operators or practitioners in the industry especially business persons, insurance will now be cheaper to access and it means we are confirming
It is going to boost activities in the airport because more international Airports or key players will begin to give recognition to Nigeria aviation sector which means more funding will come and that will also channel into the one trillion dollars national economic target being set by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu “
