FAAN to dismiss staff that undermines its image

By LAWANI MIKAIRU & DANIEL ETEGHE

Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria ,FAAN, has indicated its readiness to flush out staff  that  engage in activities that undermines its corporate image.

General Manager Corporate Communication of FAAN, Mr. Yakubu Dati gave this warning while speaking to journalsts  in his office. He said that this was necessary as the agency was planning to embark on a massive restructuring of its staff and personnel before the end of the year.

He said “what is most important  is to fish out bad eggs, undesirable elements that should not be in the system in the first place. Now this is the cause of the poor image that the organisation has been having because there are people who came in not to be of service, who do not even understand why they are working here.That is why there is now a re-orientation of the staff to understand why they are here and to see even their  work as part of their life”.

Dati further said there is going to be a lot of restructuring between now and December in the area of security and personnel because , according to him  ‘’  in terms of strategy , we want to ensure that as the new facilities are coming, we should also come in with new ideas, we should also come in with professionals who will be able to meet up with the  changing times because what was security ten years ago is different now, the challenges are different and challenges come up everyday, so you need a dynamic team because the strategy for security keeps evolving and like we always say safety and security is not a destination, it is a process that keeps evolving”.

On the planned construction of additional five new airports that will commenced in January 2013, Mr. Dati pointed out that those airports would be built by the Chinese government under the Build Operate and Transfer ,BOT, agreement stressing that the agreement was pegged at a 21 years concessionary agreement.

According to him, “the construction of the five new additional airports will commence in January 2013 and  already we have a MOU, between the Chinese government and Nigeria, and the Chinese government is providing the financing and they are coming in with their construction company which is part of the condition and it is going to be on BOT over a 21 years period when they can manage these airports and make their money”.

Asked where the airport would be located, Mr. Dati said “They will be located in Abuja, Lagos ,Port Harcourt ,Kano and Enugu. This is one of the benefits of the road show, it is part of the fallout of the road show and  also, the air plane manufacturer Bombardier has  indicated interest to come and set up an hanger.

So we are trying to make Nigeria a hub of aviation in Africa such that other airlines in Africa will fly in here for their servicing, for their spare parts and with the kind of market that we are trying to create here, some of these manufacturing companies should begin to go into partnership with our local airlines not just in terms of transportation but even manufacturing’’.