FAAN MD defends N580bn runway upgrade, threatens resignation

The Managing Director of the Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria, Olubunmi Kuku, has threatened that when she is tired of her role as the boss of the agency, she will throw in the towel.

Kuku said this while fielding aviation industry-based questions on Television Continental on Thursday evening.

The FAAN MD who said she had stepped on toes and would step on more people’s toes although with caution, stated “If I am tired, I will get out of the job.

“I have stepped on toes and I am still stepping on toes and I know that I need to do that with caution but definitely not at the jeopardy of the airport system.

“If I have to, I will step down, I will resign if I see that it is not working but what is important is to make sure that I do what is right.”

She also responded to criticisms that have greeted her claim that N580bn is required to fix obsolete runways across the country.

Kuku who confirmed the barrage of critics questioning what FAAN needed such a humongous amount for, appealed to all who care to understand the need for the money to find out what it takes to take care of aviation infrastructures.

She said, “I would like to clarify two things; First we have a number of runways in Nigeria today, we have mentioned to you that there are 22 airports that are owned by the Federal Government and we also support some that are state-owned.

“I also made specific reference to airports with runways that have exceeded their lifespan. The average lifespan of a runway is about 20-25 years and a lot of our runways in Nigeria have actually exceeded that time. Meaning that we had them for 30 to over 35 years.

“What it means is that we have to reconstruct those runways. The N580bn that I initially mentioned was for over 17 runways and it is not just runways but also includes some perimeter fencing and so on.

“I have seen commentaries where people asked what we would be needing those monies for. Just look it up in Google to understand what it means to build runways, taxi expansion and all that is needed to be done.”

While speaking on what she had done within her first 100 days in office, Kuku topped her achievement with the level of sanity that has been restored to Nigerian aerodromes in the last 90 days.

“We have spent too much time talking about the decay and it is time for us to start fixing things and that is exactly what we are doing. And what is more critical is the continuity, meaning that wherever we stop, somebody needs to pick that up and that is the biggest challenge that we see. Because we have a new administration we tend not to complete or continue old projects.

“Now to what we are doing; I think what to do is to block some immediate gaps which is what we have done. If you have been a traveller in the last 90 days, you will observe that the airports are cleaner and more friendly in terms of the atmosphere.”