The Managing Director of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria, Olubunmi Kuku has said that the N23.1 billion earmarked for rebuilding and repairing airport facilities across the country is grossly insufficient.
Kuku disclosed this during an appearance on The Morning Brief, a Channels TV program, on Tuesday, said that airports, terminal areas, land sides, and air sides are some of the things that require urgent upgrades, and the amount appropriate may not be sufficient.
Kuku underlined that the aviation industry, particularly airports, is essential and requires significant capital investment.
“When you refer to N23.1 billion or N23 billion, it may not scratch the surface if you look at where we are in terms of infrastructure development and upgrades. Yes, we do have some money earmarked for capital-intensive projects this year, and maybe slightly more. What I do want to say is that the Federal Government, through FAAN has 22 airports under our domain, which we manage.”
She explained that the authority is subsidizing the remaining 19 airports and plans to expand this funding to some of the new airports under construction.
“We also have about six or seven airports that are either owned by state governments or private individuals or entities, which we also support with either aviation security or fire and rescue services.
“We have a number of states in the north as well as in the south-west that are coming up with new airports.
“I would say that based on the statistics today, only three of the 22 airports are actually profitable and contribute largely to the sustenance of the airport companies that we run.
“I would also say that we are actually cross-subsidising the other 19 airports today and in most instances, we will substitute or cross-subsidise for some of the airports that are coming on board as well.”
Kuku stated that FAAN allocates 50% of its revenue to federal coffers, which poses a serious difficulty. She stated that the authority is currently in discussions with several levels of government to seek help.
The FAAN MD noted that the development of new airports has less of an impact on passenger traffic than GDP growth and economic activity.
Kuku underlined the need to concentrate on major areas such as trade, manufacturing, and tourism to increase airport traffic.
“What that means is that we start to build a network of airports where we can push our feeders to some of the other states or to some of the other locations and start to utilise our airports,” she said.
