Review of Aviation agencies: FAAN embarks on rehabilitation of airports, facilities

THE Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria, FAAN, yesterday, responded to the criticism of travellers and aviation stakeholders who have complained that the facilities at the nation’s airport terminals and airsides were not functioning optimally by embarking on the rehabilitation of airport facilities and the major terminals to provide better service and improve the comfort of the passengers and other
airports users.

As a first step towards achieving this objective, FAAN has made it a policy that all the major airports in the country must switch over to generators during aircraft landing to avoid power outage at critical moments when aircraft lands or taxies to the terminal. There have been instances of power outages during take off and landing of aircraft, especially international flight. To ensure that this is effectively carried out, FAAN has boosted electricity supply to the major airports by acquiring power generators at the Lagos and Abuja airports and this has mitigated incessant power disruption caused by reliance on pubic power supply. The sanitary condition of the terminal has also been called to question by airport users . And the agency has responded by reviewing the cleaning contracts to ensure more efficient service delivery by firms contracted to keep the toilets at the terminals clean, as the cleaners are directed to clean the toilets after every use. Due to security breaches at some of the airports , the agency has also fortified security at all the airports in the country with military personnel and armored personnel carriers (APC), which are stationed at strategic places to observe activities at the airport. FAAN has also eliminated touts at the Lagos and Abuja airports and to sustain this effort, it has detailed security personnel to ensure that individuals who do not have anything to do at the airport should not be allowed to go there. The acting General Manager, Public Affairs, FAAN, Mrs. Henrietta Yakubu who confirmed that most of the touts who mill around the Lagos and Abuja airports have been driven out of the terminals, said this has improved passengers’ facilitation, making the airport terminals more secure.