It takes team work, efficiency to run massive airport system like FAAN, says Dati

Yakubu Dati was the General Manager of Public Affairs of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) and a former Commissioner for Information and later Commissioner for Land and Survey, Plateau State. In this interview with Television Continental (TVC) monitored by Aviation Metric on Thursday, he speaks about the giant strides  by the Managing Director of FAAN, Mrs. Olubunmi Kuku to improve age-long infrastructure decay at many of the country’s airports, the recertification of the Lagos and Abuja airports among other developmental strides taking place in the country’s aviation industry

We are seeing some significant achievements in the aviation industry in the last few months like Nigeria’s removal from the global watchlist in October, and the recertification of the Lagos and Abuja international airports, what do they mean for the country’s aviation sector?

First and foremost, it means that there is a rebound in the aviation sector in the area of growth of the airport industry. The new helmsman, who is a lady who we are having for the first time. Within such a short time, barely 11 months she has been able to get recertification of two airports which was not done more than four years ago and put on the global aviation map. For instance, FAAN received two awards at the Airports Council International in SA. She was also made board chairman of the African Airport Council. All these achievements within a short time for somebody who is coming to a male-dominated field but her training in finance and being not a novice in the aviation industry because she came with a focus and direction. She is talking with action and the action speaks louder than words. We just had a workshop at the Aviation Round Table (ART)  where all the think tanks of the aviation industry came together to share ideas and she was the only CEO and that shows she is always putting her feet on the ground.

CTC rating

The key factors are the issues surrounding safety and security because safety is number one when it comes to the airport and that is why the umbrella universal safety regulator ICAO always emphasizes the issue of safety. Shortly on the assumption of office, and within one week in office, the MD has signed the safety protocol and has been able to train 1400 staff, 2000 man-hours of training for both staff and stakeholders. Aviation is a regulated industry and operates based on the technicalities of training and when you talk about people, you are talking about key airports. It is people, process and procedure. You have the people, they need the process and the technology and that is where training comes in. Prioritising training is where to make her work easier in such a short time. The early fruits are already dropping for everybody to see and to the celebration and acclaim of everybody.

This airport recertification acclaim by everybody is anchored by the principle of the ICAO. We are talking of recertification for two airports, what happens to the others?

Other airports are ongoing because it is a long process and she has been able to cap two airports. That of Kano, PHC, and Enugu airports are ongoing and very soon, they are going to join the fray. She is also that we upgrade the status of the airports to cat 2 category. That requires putting certain infrastructure that is necessary for that categorization for that qualification. We believe that what has happened with just one year of being in office and trying to put all these together put her experience in collaborating with different agencies to be able to achieve that. It takes teamwork and somebody ready to be able to accommodate different opinions to be able to run a system as massive as the airport. As MD, she sits over 27 Federal Airports in Nigeria and the funding running those airports comes from two or three airports. So, to be able to do this requires multi-tasking to be able to put that together that is driven by 10, 000 staff.

Sustainability

What must be done to achieve sustainability is to train and like I mentioned earlier, it has been done even at a time the aviation training school in Lagos has been upgraded into an ICAO standard school where you have ICAO instructors. It is training training training. Whatever facilities you have, no matter the technology you deploy, you need manpower and you need manpower that is adequate that is educated enough and trained to run. That is why the emphasis has been on training and that is going to make for sustainability of it. Don’t also forget that we are not just looking at the two airports, we are looking at the other three international airports that are Kano, PHC and Enugu airports where the process has already begun a long time ago. We go as they finetune simultaneously to cover up the gaps that were identified to achieve maximal capacity.

What it means for the flying public

A lot of confidence is being restored at our airports. It also means that for the airline operators, practitioners in the industry especially insurance will now be cheaper to access and it is going to boost activities in the area because more international airports or key players will continue to give recognition to the Nigerian aviation sector. More funding will come and will provide the channel of $1 trillion to the economic target set by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

Does it impact on the cost of travel?

There are many factors to the cost of fuel to it. The jet A1 is a major cause. Fuelling is about 40 per cent of the cost of airline operation. With Dangote on the flow and the PHC refinery and others that are gradually coming off-stream, we believe that the cost will come down and substantially affect ticketing.

The airline operators have raised a huge concern about what they called an inadequate number of air traffic controllers and said it is a safety threat. What is your view about this and how do you think it can be resolved?

It brings us back to the issue of training because what it means is that you have the staff. You need training to upgrade them. That is why the new school that has been accredited here, will offer upgrades to give them the opportunities. Until now, most of the certified training has to do with going overseas and with the exchange rate, it is not easy for the agencies to be able to afford to do that. Now, you are looking for the cost of training one person will be able to train almost 30 or 40 people here locally in Nigeria and this will cure the malady in the aviation industry.

They said that they have resorted to recalling retired air traffic controllers. That is not a sustainable solution. Do you agree? They said this development is a safety threat. Do you think this issue can be addressed?

That is not a sustainable solution but don’t forget that we have the aviation school in Zaria that is also feeding into the aviation market in the aviation sector. The cost of training, and manpower internationally is so high that it is not easy for individuals to be able to do that. Before, it was easy for people to send their children overseas so they to acquire knowledge. The line is tilting up and that is why we need we celebrate President Tinubu’s economy that made us look inwards. It now means that there is a business opportunity for the private sector to create schools that train aviators as a business concern that can be profitably run. There is a desire there.

Let’s discuss consumer rights the delayed, cancelled flights and the huge disappointment that the public experiences with some of these operators. How do you think we can bridge that gap?

Well, I am sure that people who are following will know that there has been a massive improvement.  The fact that where local airlines are being strengthened and encouraged; for that, we give kudos to the Honourable Minister. You can see that Air Peace started flying to the UK and they are exploring other areas. All those are for us to begin to look outward and improve the capacity of our local players. The combination of these factors are factors that relied heavily on overseas training but now, we can begin to look inwards to be able to achieve those capacities that are required in the industry for our local airlines

You were a former Commissioner for Land and Survey in Plateau State. Let us talk about Plateau for a while. Let’s begin with security. Just yesterday, there was a story of ten people kidnapped in a community and we have seen Governor Muftwang have his episode of security challenges. What do you think is the issue here;  it defies which party is in power or who is the Governor. It has been a recurrent issue, what do you think is the source of this crisis?

The source of this crisis is multiple. Some people mentioned issues of land, issue of insurgence and terrorism but the most important is to begin to look at ways we can begin to ameliorate the situation. We are happy that the National Security Adviser has been able to create a roadmap  that not only answers the insecurity in Plateau but also the Boko Haram menace in Borno, the IPOB problem in the East and all over the country because it is a holistic approach that has to do with running a coordinated security infrastructure and been also able to beef up some training in terms of intelligence gathering and sharing and in terms of empowering the local vigilantes, the hunters  and indeed the community leaders to be able to share information on time so that the necessary security will be able to take the necessary steps required to be able to nip this uprising in the bud

Wole Shadare