Arthur Richard
“Give me a quicker schedule of implementation. Air Cargo is of great importance to this government. We want things done a little faster.” These were the words of the Mrs Olubunmi Kuku the MD/CE of the Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria FAAN during the meeting of the authority with the enlarged membership of the Aviacargo Roadmap committee. The Coordinator of the Committee Mr. Ikechi Uko had briefed her on the work done so far. He pointed out that today is the first meeting of the enlarged committee in over 10 months. He thanked the MD for meeting with the team and renewing the commitment of FAAN to the successful completion of the project.
The Roadmap Committee was set up in December 2022 to provide a roadmap to grow Air Cargo in Nigeria from the 5th position in Africa to number one on the continent. There has been 3 changes of the Chief Executives at FAAN within 12 months with Mrs Kuku taking over in December 2023. These changes disrupted the project as all meetings ceased until the team at FAAN settled in. Within this period FAAN implemented some parts of the suggestions made by the Committee by creating a New Directorate of Cargo Development and services.
These changes at FAAN led to recent meetings between the committee and the directorate to streamline the activities between the two of them. The coordination of the Directorate and the Committee led to the enlarged meeting with the MD of FAAN and her team. Among the outcomes of the meeting today is the launch of a pilot project of exports through 4 selected airports. There will be a trial run of perishables export from harvesting at the farm through the Lagos Airport in a timeline of less than 24 hours. There will be another trial Run of Cereals through the Kano Airport. There will also a trial run of Exports through the Enugu Airport. The last Trial run will be from Jos Airport.
These trial runs are to test the effectiveness of the Air Cargo Pathway developed by the Roadmap Committee. The trial runs will involve the stakeholders of the Air Cargo Ecosystem. Other agencies of government including NEPC, NAFDAC, SON, NAQS, NDLEA and Nigerian Customs will all be involved in the pilot projects. A sub-committee headed by NAQS representative was set up to strategize and fast track the implementation of the trial runs. The subcommittee was given 2 weeks to submit report.
The MD commended the members of the Roadmap Committee for their passion and perseverance to stay the course thus far and encouraged them to fasten the speed of the project now that FAAN has reinforced its support for the project. She received the team along with FAAN Directors of Special Duties, Director of Legal Services and the Director of Cargo Development and Services. The Roadmap team included members of the lead team and representatives of NAQS, SON, NAGAFF, Link Global, NAHCO and ANLCA.
Meanwhile, earlier in the Aviacargo Committee meeting before the visit to the MD/CE of FAAN, the Director of Cargo Development and Services, Mr. Lekan Thomas was commended for the laudable steps taken so far to put into practice some of the action plans communicated to him during our meeting with him shortly after assuming office. These include but not limited to his effort in insisting that the Cargo handlers in the cargo terminals reduce the number of human traffic and pep up their processes in line with global practices.
