Today marks 100 days since Mrs Olubunmi Kuku assumed office as the first female Managing Director of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN).
Kuku, whose appointment had generated reactions from within and outside the sector as her announcement by the government finally broke the age-long jinx of men dominating the top echelon of the aviation agencies, has so many responsibilities on her shoulders as expressed by stakeholders.
The stakeholders, particularly women, have argued that the ability of the FAAN MD to weather the storm confronting the authority saddled with the responsibility of managing the over 28 government and private airports, will be used to measure the capacity and capability of women subsequently.
Kuku, in the last 100 days, has been able to remove every doubt that she is equal to the task as witnessed by some feats FAAN has recorded under her watch, which has left many key players in no doubt that she is ready for the job.
While some argue that 100 days are not enough to access the FAAN MD, others believe that she is capable of repositioning the authority in readiness for the transformation of the airports if given the free hand.
She has come to stay and doing well —Abioye
In his reaction, a renowned labour leader in the sector, Comrade Olayinka Abioye, attested to the fact that Kuku has not done badly in her 100 days in office, but urged her to look into the critical area of workers’ welfare.
He said, “From feelers around, she has come to stay and doing well. As I promised her in my maiden congratulatory message, there are patriotic elders in the house who are ready and willing to assist in whatever area if she needs help.
“Notwithstanding the fact that she is not a neophyte, having worked briefly within the industry, she is good to go and shall get necessary support as desired. I must congratulate her and the team for the historic success recorded at the just concluded ICAO Aviation Security Audit.”
She is ready to listen and learn —Ohunayo
The General Secretary of Aviation Round Table, Mr Olumide Ohunayo, though believes it is too early to rate the performance of the FAAN MD based on 100 days, commended her humility and readiness to listen and learn, a trait he said will work positively for her.
“I think I will give it to her, her humility, her willingness to listen, to learn and to participate in aviation activities; that I have seen in her and that is commendable. But it is too early for me to access her on the job of FAAN itself.
“I like her humility, her ability to listen, participate in almost all events as widely as she can without having much aides around her and being able to grasp on issues around airports development. I think in another 100 days or three months time, we will have been able to say she has done something I can commend her for. For now, I want to take a cautious approach towards giving any commendation, but then it is not condemnation.
She has started well —AFARN president
PRESIDENT of the Association of Foreign Airlines and Representatives in Nigeria (AFARN), Mr Kingsley Nwokoma, gave Kuku a pass mark on her activities so far.
According to him, Kuku has started well and needs encouragement to succeed.
While saying it is too early to assess her, the AFARN president urged that if given another six months, the FAAN boss would have been able to record concrete achievements.
Her style has been encouraging —Saidu
The General Secretary of Nigerian Aviation Professionals Association (NAPA), Comrade Abdulrazak Saidu, commended Kuku’s style of leadership, which he described as fair and encouraging so far. He, however, said there is room for more achievements.
Some FAAN workers, who spoke to Nigerian Tribune in confidence, listed the achievements of the MD since she assumed her position to include the reopening of the 18Right/36L runway of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, which was closed down for repairs and upgrade for effective flight operations; the ability of the first female MD of FAAN to personally carry out inspection of traffic movements and ease of movements at the airport even at odd periods and the reopening of the E-Wing arrival terminal of the old terminal at the international axis of the Lagos airport with international standard architectural designs.
The workers also cited the recent excellent performance of Nigeria at the just-concluded audit conducted by the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) in the areas of airport infrastructure and safety as a confirmation of the resilience of the MD to ensure the airports are repositioned.
The recent reopening of the Minna cargo airport and its renaming after President Bola Tinubu, which was physically supervised by Kuku, is also being used to rate her performance.
The MD has equally been scored high in the area of staff welfare as workers now enjoy timely payment of salaries and other benefits; her ability to oversee the successful completion of training of 201 officers and men of aviation security directorate and the provision of 3,000 hand-held radio.
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