FAAN MD defends N580bn runway improve, threatens resignation

The Managing Director of the Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria, Olubunmi Kuku, has threatened that when she is bored with her function because the boss of the company, she is going to throw within the towel.

Kuku stated this whereas fielding aviation industry-based questions on Tv Continental on Thursday night.

The FAAN MD who stated she had stepped on toes and would step on extra folks’s toes though with warning, said “If I’m drained, I’ll get out of the job.

“I’ve stepped on toes and I’m nonetheless stepping on toes and I do know that I would like to do this with warning however undoubtedly not on the jeopardy of the airport system.

“If I’ve to, I’ll step down, I’ll resign if I see that it’s not working however what’s essential is to be sure that I do what is correct.”

She additionally responded to criticisms which have greeted her declare that N580bn is required to repair out of date runways throughout the nation.

Kuku who confirmed the barrage of critics questioning what FAAN wanted such a humongous quantity for, appealed to all who care to grasp the necessity for the cash to search out out what it takes to maintain aviation infrastructures.

She stated, “I wish to make clear two issues; First we’ve numerous runways in Nigeria right now, we’ve talked about to you that there are 22 airports which might be owned by the Federal Authorities and we additionally help some which might be state-owned.

“I additionally made particular reference to airports with runways which have exceeded their lifespan. The typical lifespan of a runway is about 20-25 years and loads of our runways in Nigeria have truly exceeded that point. That means that we had them for 30 to over 35 years.

“What it means is that we’ve to reconstruct these runways. The N580bn that I initially talked about was for over 17 runways and it’s not simply runways but additionally consists of some perimeter fencing and so forth.

“I’ve seen commentaries the place folks requested what we might be needing these monies for. Simply look it up in Google to grasp what it means to construct runways, taxi enlargement and all that’s wanted to be performed.”

Whereas talking on what she had performed inside her first 100 days in workplace, Kuku topped her achievement with the extent of sanity that has been restored to Nigerian aerodromes within the final 90 days.

“We now have spent an excessive amount of time speaking in regards to the decay and it’s time for us to start out fixing issues and that’s precisely what we’re doing. And what’s extra crucial is the continuity, which means that wherever we cease, any person wants to select that up and that’s the largest problem that we see. As a result of we’ve a brand new administration we have a tendency to not full or proceed previous initiatives.

“Now to what we’re doing; I feel what to do is to dam some quick gaps which is what we’ve performed. When you have been a traveller within the final 90 days, you’ll observe that the airports are cleaner and extra pleasant by way of the ambiance.”