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*Nigeria: FAAN In 'Intensive Care Unit', says Chairman, House Committee on Aviation

By Lateef Lawal

The Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) is about to collapse operationally if care is not taken to urgently rescue it. This was the position of the Chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Aviation, Nkeiruka Onyejeocha after a visit to the authority's head office in Lagos recently. She specifically said: "FAAN has potentials to make as a huge money spinner for government, but it is sad to note that FAAN is on the intensive care unit, which is about to die, but this committee will rescue it from dying."

The committe chairman raised issues with the management on, why FAAN will pay over N1.2 billion to two of its concessionaires, as opposed to the target N890 million earmarked for such payment?" Other issues begging for answer posed by the Chairman were: "How come the concessionaires are owing FAAN and could not pay ? It is clear that FAAN lacks live cycle. It then follows that FAAN may have failed as an organisation. This is because of the way and manner the organisation runs, the irregularities that surrounds its concession agreements. It also appears there is no plan to make Nigerian airports look like what they should look like. Could it be privatised, considering the huge investment of capital in the airports , which gives the feeling that budgeting in FAAN is just like a ritual ." The committee charged the authority to explain the rationale for its failure to meet up its N35 billion revenue target for the year having chalked in only N20 billion as at the end of the third quarter of the year. ( Continues below..... )

Photo Above: An Airborne Plane

She wondered why despite the huge budgetary allocation to FAAN, it could not boast of any airport in the country that has the trappings of a modern facility and that FAAN lacked basic airport commercial infrastructure, which disallowed it from meeting its huge potentials. The chairman that the authority appears to have failed in recovering its huge debt profile running into billions on Naira. FAAN, according the House Of Representatives Committee chairman has the potentials to make the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, huge revenue spinner for the Authority, the reliance on aeronautical sources for money has not demonstrated the financial creativity of the authority.

She expressed reservations over the lopsided expenditure profile of FAAN, which weighed higher on overhead costs, running into 60 per cent as opposed to capital projects which pegs around 40 per cent. She however cautioned the Managing Director of FAAN, Mr George Uriesi who is barely three months in office to take responsibility and make the airport system work, as the committee would no longer accept diplomatic answers on key questions that bordered on the processes and procedure for effective airport administration.

Lateef Lawal (NigerianAviationNews)

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