By Lawani Mikairu

Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria, FAAN, has said that its policies are friendly to stakeholders and not intended to hurt airlines and other stakeholders.

This assertion was made in Lagos by the Managing Director of FAAN, Captain Rabiu Yadudu while speaking with reporters during the just concluded 25th annual conference of League of Airport and Aviation correspondents , LAAC in Lagos.

According to Captain Yadudu, it is the interpretation of these policies that differences have always arisen with stakeholders.

He said : ” I believe there is hardly any policy that is in conflict with operators. It is a question of understanding.

The policies and implementation are all the same, it is interpretation that may be different. Usually, it is that interpretation, but you will find that you will all arrive at the same decision (if the interpretation is right).”

“The same intention is being serviced. But if you have the wrong interpretation, then we have to agree when the regulator tells you that your interpretation is wrong. It will always go the way of the regulator.

The interpretation and absolute understanding lies with the regulator.

So, if there is a conflict, it is for the regulator to clear the misunderstanding. But there is no fundamental misunderstanding or conflict between policies and what the stakeholders want.”

Speaking further on formulating policies that affect airlines directly, the FAAN boss said : ” I believe all policies that have to do with FAAN have been with FAAN for a long time and the implementation is always ongoing.

Once policies are drafted and approved, they are joined with existing ones and all implemented.

FAAN has been in operation for over 40 years and we don’t have any policy outstanding. There are the new ones. Some are with the NCAA, some are industry standard recommended practices. So, we are always in the process of implementation”.

Explaining how the conflict FAAN had with one of the concessionair passengers facilitators, SITA, was resolved, Captain Yadudu said the intention of the authority was to improve the process.

He said : ” I believe FAAN has already moved forward. What brought about the whole issue is that we decided to improve the whole process.

The 10-year SITA contract for Lagos and Abuja airports expired last year and FAAN decided to improve the process. Even while the SITA contract ran, some services were not rendered by SITA”.

“Nonetheless, we ran an open procurement process for the service to be renewed. This type of service is run by only two or three companies in the world.

We advertised, two companies responded, and SITA didn’t respond creditably. They gave foreign documents. Naturally, the one that responded with our own documents won. It is a long history but it is all behind us.

The new contract and the project have already been approved by Mr, President. We have improved the process from two airports to now cover all the five international airports – Lagos, Abuja, Port Harcourt, Kano and Enugu. At the end of the day, it is going to be better for all of us.”

” We have already started taking delivery of equipment from RESA of France. FAAN went with the right procurement process and we got a better deal. I believe by the middle of next month, we shall be ready to move forward”, he added