The prospects of building and maintaining a thriving, secure and sustainable airport business in Nigeria looks much brighter today than at any time in the history of airport development in the country. This might appear to be a very ostentatious assertion and may even be considered by observers of the airport business as stretching the imagination beyond the realms of reality.
However, the assertion is not a product of a fertile imagination but a result of the juxtaposition of existing human and material resources available in airport management and to airport managers within the country. The airport sub-sector of the aviation industry is so richly endowed and can possible be a key driver of economic development for Nigeria especially for the current administration. A little mix of creativity and innovation will produce astounding outcomes with the facilities available to the airport authority.
The Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) has an impressive collection of choice real estates and vast amount of landed properties in almost every state across the country. These properties, many of which are at various stages of development provides handsome returns on investment to the authority and will continue to improve in value as more of the development and expansion projects are duly implemented. The runways are a veritable source of income for the airport. The runways provide services that have positioned the airport as the market place of the aviation industry.
Beside the bountiful financial harvest and the large accruals from the properties through available shops, offices and space rentals, revenue are also derived from advertisements within the airport as well as a host of other creative income channels like sponsorship or partnership from large corporations using airport facilities for promotion, commercials and campaigns. This array of income stream from the airport complements what is earned from owners and operators of aircraft as they fly into or out and especially when the aircraft is at rest.
There is also the added volume of business transacted by passengers using the airports across Nigeria. It is a never ending traffic that continues throughout the day, the night and all year round except for issues of extreme weather conditions, accidents or other forces of nature that may interfere with flight schedules. The passenger is central to the activities of the airport. The passenger makes an airport one of the most unique meeting points in the world. Passengers’ movement is likely to spike in at least the five new major international airports that are expected to open this year in Lagos, Abuja, Port Harcourt, Kano and Enugu.
The Authority is aspiring to be counted among the best in Africa and to provide services that are measurable with internationally acceptable standards. This ambitious project which has a completion time of the last quarter of 2016 will see the Authority process about sixty two million passengers annually through the five airports. The Lagos international airport fondly referred to as the MMA will see an increase in passengers from seven million to twenty five million. The Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, will take care of eleven million more passengers than the current capacity of five million while Kano, Enugu and Port Harcourt will process seven million passengers each every year. In monetary terms that would be a lot of money flowing into the coffers of the authority to further consolidate development in airports, meet obligations to the staff and contribute to national development programmes.
An airport anywhere in the world is a complex network of relationships not just among a diverse group of staff of different tongues but also of a varied background of professionals. It is a mix of different temperaments, characters, attributes, responses and reactions under different situations. Throw into the mix the usual delays in outbound or incoming flights the atmosphere is charged enough to explode. The airport including those in Nigeria is usually a blend of business and leisure. The bottom line for both engagements is money for providing the facilities to make both happen at different time or together.
The airport is also a melting pot of some sort because on a daily basis people from different social and cultural backgrounds interact more often on this platform than in other places. Sometimes, these cultures meet on very friendly and calm circumstances while at other times they may clash explosively and requiring resolutions that might just be pacification or the extreme of arbitration. The airport is a venue that acts as leveler for a lot of people. From the suave and urbane to the roughnecks and from dignitaries to the not too dignifying in the crowd.
It is instructive to note that of the entire nation’s means of transportation including road, rail and waterways that derives some form of financial allocation from the Federal government and into which it is still investing, it is only the airport that is worth the pains of investment. All others are in the cusp of transition or are in their twilight. The national carrier has gone in the way of the railway which is moving in fits and starts while the waterway transport system drowned in its own inefficiency. It is only the airport that is still viable and can guarantee holding its ground and even guarantee employment to so many Nigerians.
Clearly, from the above, it is certain that a well managed airport can contribute immensely toward the nation’s development drive. Airport development is linked to national development. Economic development is facilitated both in short and long term by having a quick gateway in and out of a country or a state. This enhances the movement of human, good and services and give rise to a chain of other economic activities. Movement of goods becomes very easy, commerce is stimulated and wastages which is a recurring decimal especially in the movement of produce and raw materials in Nigeria will drastically be reduced.
Airports are critical contributors to economic growth and revenue generation around the world especially for low income countries with huge land and rail infrastructure deficits like Nigeria. The airport is a strategic point for our domestic revenue mobilization. The airport has a way of encouraging related services like hotels, restaurants, courier companies, and security, fuel and transportation companies. The aggregate financial and social benefit of the airport to the place where it is located is sufficient to ensure that this administration should rethink the management format that has been used in this country to manage infrastructure that are of potentially beneficial to the entire country.
It is a well documented fact that revenue elasticity and labor elasticity can be developed from commercial airport activities. Both values of elasticity will indicate how the direct economic impact of an airport, using data such as passenger numbers and local economic conditions will show how well the airport has impacted not just the community but the country’s finances. There is a linkage between the increase in passenger traffic to direct employment and direct income. The ongoing developments of new airports are contributing to the labour forces of those five cities and whatever increase in passengers may result in future will also have a direct impact on not just the local economy but that of the nation.
What can be derived from the above is that to successfully manage an airport with all of the complexities of the forces of nature, human egos and sensibilities requires the depth of the knowledge of men and the facilities that is needed to carry out assignments at the airport with as little errors as possible. The tempo of work needs a man or woman with the presence of mind that can be calm when everyone around is heating up and ready to explode. It demands a man or a woman with great attention to details, sense of integrity and a love for excellence. He must have the attitude to take on the pressure that comes with working with the kind of precision that makes airport all over the world run almost like clock-work. At the moment, the only man who fits that description is Engr. Saleh Dunomah, M.D of FAAN.
The suggestion is that for the airports to maximize their social and economic contribution and even assist to drive the Gross Domestic Product of Nigeria at a time when all sources for income generation should tapped, it will require tested manager to direct the affairs of the Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria. There is already a well orchestrated, well oiled and properly serviced campaign designed to shake the current Managing Director of FAAN, Engr. Saleh Dunomah out of office. In a sector where human factor is consider very highly as making the difference between safety and a catastrophic outcome, it is important to consider leaving the job of running FAAN in the few years to come in the hands of the current helmsman.