There have been disruptions to international flights at the Murtala Mohammed Airport International Airport (MMIA), Lagos, over the breakdown of the check-in occasioned by the expiration of the contract of Societe International Telecommunication Aeronautiques (SITA) which has been handling the Common Use of Terminal Equipment (CUTE) for the past 10 years. In this interview, the Managing Director of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), Captain Rabiu Hamisu Yadudu, spoke about how this is being resolved.
Passengers have been experiencing delays at the Lagos airport, what is the issue?
FAAN plans to upgrade and renew the existing system which is provided by SITA which has been in operation for over 10 years. It came up for renewal, SITA did not participate creditably in line with the Nigerian procurement process; and they are fully aware. As a result of that, RESA of France which also participated emerged as the only winner of that procurement process.
It was done transparently, transmitted to the government and they (RESA) got the new contract. We worked with another company called ICTS to provide a stop-gap measure, that during the transition, ICTS would provide a common user self-service kiosk. This system was provided 12 months ago in Nigeria.
We worked with SITA to ensure that during the transition, we sought their cooperation to ensure that there was no service disruption. Towards the end of it, we requested for a six-month extension that would make it easy for SITA to continue operations until the time RESA was coming in. When we sent the agreement, SITA suddenly said they would only sign three months. They put up so many tough conditions.
Why are the foreign airlines unwilling to migrate to the new system?
In the agreement we signed, SITA was meant to operate up to the time the new company comes and three months after that. In addition to that, we provided a company to give this self-service kiosk to complement SITA because SITA was supposed to provide a self-service kiosk, baggage reconciliation system, CUTE Traffic Surveillance System (TSS) in Abuja and Lagos, CUTE in some airports. Abuja airport doesn’t have that for the whole 10 years. These were deficiencies in the SITA contract. It is in the contract, but these four services were never provided.
So we decided SITA should be there. If they want six months, we give them the six months even though we need only two and half months.
So, whether they want to migrate to the new organisation or not, FAAN worked with SITA to ensure that there was no service disruption.
FAAN never meant ICTS to be the primary service provider, because RESA is there. We just wanted it to complement SITA.
For how long will this continue?
Number one, our payment is already at the ministry; any moment from now. We have started processing their payment, we have sent it to the ministry and the CBN, and any moment the government would pay. It is no more within FAAN now. It’s a government process. If we can get the fund this week, we will pay them.
We are grateful to some airlines for their cooperation. I believe Air Peace, Qatar Airways and some airlines have already migrated to the ICTS; they are using it and more are also considering it because the ICTS team came and they are discussing with the airlines. In addition, the RESA team will be in Nigeria very soon to meet with the airlines and assure them that they are here and discuss the modalities of their implementation.
When is international flight resuming at the Enugu airport?
We were supposed to resume about two or three weeks ago, but because of some minor but very critical hitches, we are expecting a report.
Has this got to do with facilities or security?
The issue is not security, but facilities. We have our standards. There are some of the facilities we need to improve on and ensure that we provide them for all users. Fire cover issue is one and we have already gone far on that. We must put everything in place before opening. And whatever we are doing is in the interest of all stakeholders; all Nigerians and FAAN itself.
Operators are worried about the state of the airfield lighting at Lagos airport runway, what is FAAN doing about this?
The airfield lighting contract was not given by FAAN. Remember, there was a time the lighting was taken away from FAAN, but later returned to FAAN. We have spent the last few years trying to resolve the contract.
There are issues with the contractor and the project itself, but we decided FAAN does not have that time. So we are working now with the ministry to see if we can get a separate procurement while the ministry resolves the old one.
How is the recovery process from the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown?
It has been very strong; thanks to the faith and confidence shown by our stakeholders and the very good work done by our staff and staff of other agencies. It was a team work that went on very well. The recovery is good so far, but it would be much better if we get more financial decisions in our way.
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