The federal government has said it will terminate up non-performing concession agreements, engage new concessionaires and apply stiff sanctions on private airport terminals for non-payment for services rendered by Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria, (FAAN).
Rabiu Yadudu, managing director, Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria, (FAAN), said, plans are underway to ensure that the financial difficulties of FAAN is brought to the barest minimum if actions are taken to ensure that all those indebted pay what they owe.
Speaking during the oversight visit of the joint Committees on Aviation of the National Assembly to Lagos airport, Yadudu stated that the authority has shifted its focus from the aeronautical sources of revenue to the non-aeronautical so as to further improve the revenue performance.
He said FAAN has commenced an aggressive sensitization with respect to areas at the airports where investors can come in, “Specific areas where effort is being focused on include: advertisement, car parks, Private Airport Terminal operators and Bi-Courtney (BOT) revenue sources.
“We hope to make significant progress before the end of the 2nd quarter. Car parks Automation at the various Airports is presently ongoing, before the end of the year we should have achieved a great result,” he added.
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Yadudu also disclosed that the authority is proposing a revenue budget of N188billion for the year 2022 as against N125.4billion approved for the year 2021, which gives an increase of 50.4 percent.
According to him, the projection was arrived at with the hope that the effect of the pandemic would have been over thereby leading to an increase in passenger traffic, as well as boost in the non-aeronautical revenue base of the Authority.
Capt. Yadudu noted that FAAN is still faced with some challenges on debt recovery most especially on debts owed by ARIK Air which constitutes a significant portion of the Authority’s debt portfolio.
While commending the effort of the Committees on Aviation with respect to intervention so far in the recovery of ARIK debts inherited by the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON), called for further assistance to bring the issue to a logical conclusion as the huge debts are still outstanding.
The FAAN boss mentioned that even though FAAN does not have an operating surplus because of the impacts of COVID-19, it remitted N16.7 billion to the federation account as a contribution to the Consolidated Revenue Fund in 2021.
