Since his appointment as the Managing Director of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), Mr. Saleh Dunoma has mapped out strategies to reposition airports in the country to meet ICAO standards as well as generate revenue from non-aeronautical sources to grow the agency’s revenue profile, reports IME AKPAN
The Managing Director of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), Mr. Saleh Dunoma, has come to terms that one of the challenges facing the aviation industry is to ensure that the ongoing modernisation of infrastructure at airports across the country is done to specification and with the highest professional standards.
Thus, Dunoma has set to work, along with his lieutenants at FAAN, working tirelessly to complete the ambitious aviation construction projects.
He said the completion of terminals at both the local and international wings of airports would stimulate robust traffic growth in passenger and cargo traffic, improve passenger comfort, increase capacity and improve facilitation.
“We will continue to improve and ensure that our airport users and other stakeholders get value for their money. It is our hope that the completion of these facilities together with other airports will reposition and transform into heaven of foreign investment,’’ he said.
In the area revenue generation and diversification, Dunoma said the current trend in airport business internationally is that airports generate more revenue through non-aeronautical sources than aeronautical sources. He said the federal government’s aviation master plan exemplified in the remodelling of 22 airports across the country has transformed airport terminals into ultramodern structures.
He also said the 14 fresh cargo terminals at some designated airports for the exportation of farm produce such as potatoes, tomatoes, yams, pineapples, bananas, carrots, among others would also yield revenue for the airports.
“The federal government has also put some measures in place to ensure that the perishable cargo initiative succeeds through providing storage and eventual evacuation of agricultural produce to designated markets
all over the world, in line with international standards and best practices. Economic free trade and export processing zones will also be developed to enable states and local investors benefit from the potential investment opportunities inherent in the initiative. The ripple effects on the Nigerian economy would become obvious when aviation becomes a major revenue earner for the country,” said Dunoma.
As much as he would not speak about his achievements, Dunoma said the agency had mapped out strategies towards repositioning airport infrastructure in the country as well as repackaging, rebranding and redirecting the aviation industry towards efficient customer service delivery.
The managing director was worried by a study conducted I n 2014 by ‘The Guide to Sleeping in Airport’, which named three Nigeria airports as the worst in Africa last year. The report included the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos which ranked 10th position, Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport Abuja ranked 7th and Port Harcourt International Airport, 6th.
“The low rating of Nigeria airports last year was basically born out of inadequate customer service delivery and not infrastructure. We have the fastest development plan for airports growth among African countries. We are also leaving no stone unturned to ensure that in the next rating coming up in April, we emerge among the best,” said Dunoma.
He said the strategies emphasise the improvements in customer service aimed at satisfying our customers, stakeholders and other airport users in line with best practices.
He also said the agency had made a commitment to raise the bar in customer service across the country’s airports under his management.
“FAAN is working hard to reposition the country’s airports in terms of service delivery to enable them compete with others in Africa.
“Plans are underway to improve the standard of service delivery to passengers that use airports in Nigeria, affirming that inadequate passengers’ service delivery was responsible for the low rating of three of the country’s international airports in 2014,” he added.
Dunoma, a civil engineer who was appointed managing director of FAAN in March, 2014 following a reshuffling in the management of the Authority where he was until that time the director of projects.
Since then, he has worked hard at providing leadership duties expected of him; to enable the agency discharge its services at international standards.
He has done this in a very professional and unobtrusive way such that he has been able to carry along various stakeholders in the country’s aviation industry.
Indeed, even before he became the chief executive of FAAN, he had been the agency’s points-man in the supervision of all the high priority aviation projects.
An Ahmadu Bello University-trained civil engineer, Dunoma has spent over three decades in FAAN, a period which has afforded him the opportunity to become an expert in various aspects of aviation facility management, especially in the key areas of security, safety, infrastructure development and maintenance.
Recently he announced that FAAN would start an intensive training of aviation security, airport rescue personnel and fire- fighters.
He explained that strategy is geared towards promoting safety, security and airport excellence to meet the standards set by the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) standards.
Dunoma who was a panelist at the annual general assembly, conference and exhibition of the Airport Council International (ACI) which held in Panama recently emphasized the great prospects of the Nigerian aviation industry to a body that accounts for 590 regular members operating 1,850 airports in 77 countries.
Speaking as a panelist at the event, Dunoma said the completion of the airport terminals would stimulate robust traffic growth in passenger and cargo traffic.
“These airports will improve passenger comfort, increase capacity and improve facilitation.”
He stated that though the 7.2 per cent increase for passenger traffic from the MINT (Mexico, Indonesia, Nigeria and Turkey) countries as contained in the 2014 ACI World Airport Traffic Report was commendable, the figure would experience a steady rise.
In the area of corporate social responsibility, Dunoma said the agency would partner with the National Cancer Society and other relevant bodies towards combating this disease.
Speaking at the Customer Service Appreciation/ World Cancer Day organised by the Servicom Unit of the FAAN recently, the managing director called for care and support without discrimination for those affected with cancer.
In the fight against the scourge he said “we must ensure that we do not promote fear and victimization,” and advised against these habits such as tobacco smoking, tobacco chewing, excessive alcoholic consumption and several other factors such as over exposure to sunlight, irritants such as hydrocarbon, insecticides which expose people to the risk of having cancer.
