Kuku explains urgency of N580bn investment for 17 runways’ rehab

Olubunmi Kuku, managing director, FAAN

Sade Williams/Business a.m.

More details on the urgency to rehabilitate at least 17 Nigerian airport runways with an estimated investment of N580 billion have been provided by the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), the government agency responsible for managing the airports.

Olubunmi Kuku, the managing director and chief executive officer of FAAN, spoke of the need to urgently rehabilitate airports’ runways across the country and specifically mentioned 17 runways that have long exceeded their lifespans and are in urgent need of reconstruction to forestall unforeseen situations, improve safety and ultimately, passenger experience.

Appearing on a monitored television interview, Kuku also clarified the Ministry of Aviation and Aerospace Development’s new position on the construction of a second runway in Abuja airport.

She explained that the N580 billion earlier mentioned for the reconstruction of the runways would also cover perimeter fencing, in-roads and apron expansion projects of those airports.

“I believe I’ve also just received a number of messages following our outing yesterday at the National Assembly. So I’d like to clarify two things. We have a number of runways in Nigeria today. So we have mentioned to you that there are 22 airports that are owned by the federal government. We also support some airports that are owned by the state. I did make specific reference to airports which had runways that had exceeded their lifespan. The average lifespan of a runway is about 20 to 25 years. A lot of our runways in Nigeria have actually exceeded that time, meaning that we’ve had them for 30 plus … 35 years. And what it means is that we need to actually reconstruct those runways. The reconstruction of those runways, the N580 billion that I initially mentioned, is actually for over 17 runways. And it’s not just the runways. It includes the runways. It includes some perimeter roads. It includes fencing.

“So, I’ve seen some commentary where people are saying, what do they need all of this money for? I encourage you, please just look at Google if you’re in the construction business or in the aviation business to try and understand what it means to build runways, taxiway links, apron expansion work that we need to do, and of course, to make sure that we put a safe environment together for everything that happens on the air side.

“Now, the reference that the honourable minister made while we were at the National Assembly was specific to the second runway project that is happening in Abuja. That project was initially awarded to some consultants and contractors by previous administrations. I believe that from conversations with the ministry, the scope of that project has changed. There’s also been price variations, of course, which is affected by the scope and, of course, FX fluctuations. There’s some additional information that has come on, which the minister has and which, of course, provides him with a lot of discomfort around the numbers that have been provided to him.

“And to that effect, he has largely come out to say, instead of accepting a figure that has been provided to him, he needs to provide more oversight and more scrutiny. And I believe the question is, what is happening with that, who’s handling that project? The project was initially being handled by the ministry, of course, with support from the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria, [of] which we have had several engagements with the ministry, and we will continue to have that in the next coming weeks, so that there’s some clarity around that project.,” she said.

Kuku disclosed that a lot of facelifts had been given to the airports, especially the international airports in the last one year.

“I think the first thing is to block some immediate gaps, and we did that with minor rehabilitation works at a lot of our airports. I’m sure that if you’ve been a travelling passenger over the last 90 days, you will see that the airports are cleaner. They’re friendlier. In terms of the atmosphere, we’ve lit up some of those airports a lot more and it’s more spacious in certain areas. That is just the minimum that we can do in terms of interventions, at least, to make sure that while we focus on the large infrastructure projects and, of course, rehabilitating some of the facilities, you’re able to do that.

“If you fly through the domestic airport in Abuja, you would notice that there’s a lot that has been done. If you came into that airport about six months to a year ago, it was dark. It was almost like the ‘Hall of Doom’. We’ve lit up that airport tremendously. We’ve opened up the space, the seating arrangements, in terms of the facility, and of course, what we hear everyone complain about, which is the conveniences, easy access or better access for people with disability, making sure that some of the elevators and the escalators are functional, making sure that things like the toilets are also functional, and really focusing on a lot of expansion works across that airports. Same thing goes if you go into the North, if you go into the South or the Southeast, you will see similar projects and similar progress that is being made,” she added.

On airports’ viability, the FAAN boss noted that the Authority is focusing on four critical areas to boost the economic status of the gateways.

“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 honorable 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, even though it is not our airport, 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.

“I know there’s been a lot of noise about December in Lagos. So tourism is, of course, business activity, and largely around driving Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Look, I think if we want to drive economic activity at this airport, 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 – so 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 of the transit facilities that are available. I’ll give some examples.

“The FCT, for example, has a rail line that terminates at the airport. It makes it easier for people to come there, whether they’re travelling 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 also open up the area. So the linkage is very important in terms of making sure that we can actually drive this activity. The third is really around transit hubs, establishing certain locations and transit hubs, Lagos and Abuja, of course, are the main areas that we are looking at,” Kuku explained.