Abdullahi Ganduje (right), chairman, Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) and Olubunmi Kuku (left), managing director/CEO, FAAN
Sade Williams/Business a.m.
Abdullahi Ganduje, chairman, board of directors, Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), wants to see greater collaboration among aviation agencies, saying this is the only way to boost airports’ efficiency.
On a tour of Lagos airport’s facilities recently, Ganduje said rivalry among agencies will only lead to setbacks for the sector.
“My request here is for collaboration. I hope there is no institutional rivalry. Wherever you have a function to be executed by different institutions, sometimes if care is not taken, there will be rivalry and the end of it, whatever you do if the other institution or agency has not done its homework, then you find out that the overall objective is defective. I urge the MD and his counterparts at other agencies to work together so that you all can achieve the overall objective of Mr. President.
“Organisational structure is also vital, we expect cooperation among directorates, no directorate itself will succeed without the cooperation of other directorates. So there should be a seamless understanding of synergies. I also call for more coordination. Personal attitude to work contributes a lot in the overall goal attainment of the agency, therefore, I believe we should improve on our personal disposition toward achieving the goals of FAAN. The difference between success and failure is motive. What is your individual motive toward the growth of the organisation? Aside remuneration, motivation by the organisation, motivating yourself to improve the lot of the organisation is very important. You must respect the hierarchy of the organisation,” he said.
Ganduje, who tasked FAAN on budget implementation, called for a timeline for project implementation in order to avoid delay that may give room for inflation and other vices that could hinder completion of projects.
On FAAN’s challenges, Ganduje said the Board has opened discussions into them adding that there will be improvement in facilities.
“Of course, there are some challenges and we have started discussing the challenges and how they will be resolved. So what matters is that we are all conversant with international airports especially in developed countries. Whatever we saw here is a product of visionary management of the organisation. That is what we’re expecting here and they have laid a very good foundation and appeal to them so we can improve on what we have done.
“Challenges are natural, some are man made but overall challenges are part of life and any system because of changes of circumstances but what is important is that those challenges should be reducing rather than increasing because more challenges will be coming anyway. So if you have not taken measures to resolve those challenges, then you will be accumulating them because more and more will surely come,” Ganduje added.
Also speaking, Olubunmi Kuku, managing director and chief executive of FAAN, said the Authority has begun implementing its safety policy in collaboration with the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA).
She disclosed further that in 2025, the Authority will also focus resources on recertification of Port Harcourt and Kano airports.
“For this year 2025, we started last year with safety and security on the runway in the air side. We have now started to implement; so we have an enhanced safety policy that we recently rolled out last year, and we’re making sure that in line and in close collaboration with the NCAA, we’re deploying that very closely. We’re also embarking on the Kano and Port Harcourt recertification. We recertified two airports last year. That’s also key for us.
“We also mentioned a couple of runway renovation projects or rehabilitation projects. Those are also coming on stream, as well as terminal rehabilitation as well. And of course, to help us make sure that from a cost recovery and a passenger experience perspective, we’re starting to do that, and of course, you’re seeing that in our secondary airports and our primary airports. I’m sure the feedback from all of our passengers is starting to look promising, but we do agree that we’re not where we need to be yet. But of course, we are starting to see a lot of those changes.
