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Why Lagos airport is undergoing total refurbishment- Shina-aba
Victoria Shina-aba is Deputy General Manager (Operations), Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN). In this interview with WOLE SHADARE after inspection of refurbished facilities at the aerodrome said the authority requires funding to finish major projects, infrastructural renewal at the major airports especially the Lagos airport and the country’s preparation to close open item for the certification of the Lagos and Abuja airports before the end of the year. Excerpt
We have seen some changes in infrastructure at the Murtala Muhammed Airport, what is responsible for this?
What we are doing are the quick fixes that we think we can do, but then, the big ones like the travellators, escalators’, the departure conveyor belts and things that we may not be able to do. It would require huge government funding. We are going to have some intervention in carrying out those major repairs, changing them totally. When the Acting President came, the question he asked was why were they not working? We told him what it is going to take to repair them is more than having a new ones. These facilities came with the building; so, that one is being handled at the higher level. The quick fixes are what you are seeing and what we are doing. There is plan to fix the conveyor belts for departure because the ones at arrival hall are very new. We have more capacity than we need. We still have challenges with departure area; they are old too. In changing them, we will have those ones that are going to be automated. We will have screening machines that would be able to screen items including baggage. This will eliminate having a table where security people will do another round of check by dipping hands into your luggage. That one is being handled at the high level. The quick fixes are the small ones you can see that we are fixing. FAAN wants to do the total refurbishing of the terminal; that is still in the offing. There are also plans for flooring and plans on ground to remove all the cars at the departure area. That, they are doing gradually. Also the check-in counters are under refurbishment to make them new. They are working but we have issues with handlers that misuse them. After the refurbishment, we will put keys so that nobody can access them except you are permitted to use them. This is so because of the way we handle things.
What are going to do to ensure that these quick fixes you have done won’t deteriorate soon afterward?
We have maintenance schedule and maintenance plans in place. With the certification coming up; it is part of the mandatory requirements; we have to build our maintenance programme and submit that to the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA). ICAO is going to assess us based on these. By the time we are able to achieve that, it won’t be business as usual because they have something to benchmark us. You say you are going to change these things twice a year, they will tell you where the evidence that you have changed them is. So, if you don’t have, it is an open item. If you have, it is compliance. That is what we are working on so at the end of the day, we will have something to benchmark, something to use to assess us.
Recently, the Minister said two airports are going to be certified. They are Lagos and Abuja. Lagos is going to be the first, are you confident that we are going to pass this certification?
What are the things on ground to show that you are upbeat that we are going to pass this test?
In the last one and half years, other things have become secondary to me because I am into the certification and so passionate about it. We have the main manual; we have fire and rescue manual; we have accident and emergency plan. The manual is who does what, take responsibility. What is in the book for you is what you will do so by the time we are certified, there will be litigation and people can be found wanting. It is streamlined so that everybody has its responsibility. The manager has a responsibility, you that you are working on the field you have your responsibility so that if there is an accident or incident and in the course of investigation you are found wanting, you would need to explain yourself. We have been able to put all those things together. What we are waiting for now is funding. Both FAAN and NCAA are working together. The era where they work independently is gone. They are ever ready to work with us. Yesterday, they went on inspection on those places they need to cover. Things are really taking shape. I want to say that in the next two, three weeks, we will be able to finish, baring no hitch and funds availability. Management too is committed because last week, we were in Abuja helping them with their documentation too. Everybody is up and doing so that we can have something to show. As soon as funds are made available, in the next three weeks, we finish with work. After putting these things in place, they now call for inspection again to see if we have closed the open items. We have closed a lot of the open items. We have the ones with NCAA, we have the one with APEX and we have been able to marry them together. Most of these things are documentation. NCAA too are ok with documentation, what is remaining is physical aspect. You see, we cannot close everything. So, those we cannot close, they give us timeline and say this are the plans for the next six months or one year. It is allowed.
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