FAAN clears air on alleged debt to IKDC over power supply

Inaugurates committee on SERVICOM

FEDERAL Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) has said that the agency was not indebted to the Ikeja Electricity Distribution Company (IKEDC) for power supplied to the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos.

  The General Manager Corporate Communications of FAAN, Yakubu Dati disclosed this recently that the airport authority has continued to carry out its obligation to the power distribution company to enable it serve its teeming clients at the airport, which require power supply for seamless passenger, cargo and other operations.

   He said information making the rounds that the power company has planned to cut supply of electricity to the airport has been part of the blackmail plot by some debtors, which are reluctant to pay what they owe to the authority.

   Dati however urged users of the airport and other stakeholders to discountenance any information suggesting that there would be power outage at the Lagos Airport on account of the alleged debts.

  He said FAAN has over the years maintained good relationship with the power distribution company for regular supply of power to the airport.

“ There is no planned black out at the airport. FAAN does not owe Ikeja Distribution Company. People who are spreading such rumour of blackout at the airport are embarking on cheap blackmail. They are going under the radar to pull FAAN down.

  “As service providers, we pay for the services rendered to us by the power company. This blackmail is coming from debtor contractors, who want to distract FAAN “, he added.

  Meanwhile, FAAN has reiterated its call to debtors to pay up what they owe the authority else their names would be published in the newspapers.

  Dati said some of the debtors have started reaching out to the debt recovery unit of FAAN for reconciliation of what they owe.

    According to him,” The Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) wishes to notify all its debtors, including airlines, concessionaires and other service providers, at all Nigerian airports, that the authority will soon publish a list of such debtors in major Nigerian newspapers as a prelude to other measures designed to help the Authority recover all its outstanding debts”.

   All affected customers of the authority are hereby advised to approach the authority’s Debt Recovery Department (DRD) at its headquarters or Airport Managers across the country with relevant documents for reconciliation of accounts with the authority.

  Said Dati: “The authority is constrained to take this measure because the level of indebtedness to the agency may soon begin to take a toll on its services, which should not be allowed to happen, in the overall interest of safety and security at airports.

   “The Authority has also observed, rather sadly, that most of its customers deliberately refuse to pay their charges/fees long after FAAN has rendered them statutory services”, he said.

In another development the Managing Director of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), Engr. Saleh Dunoma has inaugurated a committee to review the Authority’s SERVICOM integrated charter.

This review is in line with the determination of the Aviation Minister, Osita Chidoka to improve upon service delivery through the recently launched Aviation Commits Initiative aimed at repackaging, rebranding and redirecting the Aviation Industry in Nigeria towards enhanced service delivery and customer satisfaction.

In his address Dunoma who was represented by the director of Maintenance and Engineering, Femi Ogunode stressed the Minister’s consistency in promoting customer service in the aviation sector.

He pointed out that the Minister in his bid to ensure quality service delivery has launched the Aviation Portal Service and Aviation Helpline, a single platform where passengers can access real time information about airline operations and services at the Nigerian airports.

The MD explained that the review of the FAAN’s SERVICOM Charter is intended “to display the promises upon which customers can expect quality service delivery; demand their rights to good service; have recourse when service delivery fails and actively be involved in the service delivery programme”.

  Mrs. Ebele Okoye, the general manager SERVICOM, who is the head of the committee, reiterated the task of the committee which is to provide the frame work of service delivery for customers, their rights and obligations and urged the committee to be committed in this task.