How Olubunmi Kuku is Rewriting FAAN’s Story – THISDAYLIVE

Babajide Fadoju

When Olubunmi Kuku took over as Managing Director of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria, she stepped into an institution weighed down by years of neglect. Airport toilets were notorious for poor hygiene. Infratructure was failing. Staff morale was low. Financial systems lacked transparency. Travellers had come to expect frustration rather than efficiency, and the wider aviation industry viewed FAAN with growing scepticism.
Thirty months later, the picture is markedly and pleasantly different.
Airport terminals are cleaner, smell better and feel more organised. Security systems are more sophisticated and humanised. Processes that once relied on paper records and manual approvals are now handled digitally. Staff performance is being measured and reviewed. Airports that had become symbols of dysfunction are gradually being repositioned as gateways worthy of Africa’s largest economy.
What has happened at FAAN is not simply a facelift. It is a broad institutional reset, touching governance, culture, infrastructure, technology, finance, and service delivery. The driving idea behind it is straightforward: discipline, innovation, and service must become the foundation of public administration.
The transformation did not begin with paintwork or ribbon-cutting ceremonies. It began with a framework.
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s 8-Point Agenda placed infrastructure renewal and economic competitiveness at the centre of national policy. The Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development translated those priorities into a focused aviation agenda. Kuku then aligned FAAN’s internal strategy with those national goals through six strategic pillars that now guide the Authority’s operations. Excellence, Governance & Workforce, Airport, Viability, Infrastructure, Safety & Security.

That alignment mattered. For years, FAAN had operated without a clear, shared direction. Departments worked in silos. Expectations were inconsistent. Under the new structure, staff understand priorities, regulators see greater coherence, and airlines and concessionaires began dealing with a more predictable institution.
The result is a FAAN that increasingly behaves like an organisation with a plan, not one merely reacting to daily crises.
Changing the Culture from Within
Perhaps the most important change is the one least visible to passengers: culture.
Kuku inherited an organisation where accountability was weak and discipline uneven. Her administration introduced performance reviews, departmental key performance indicators, and monthly management assessments. Decisions that were once driven by hierarchy and instinct are now expected to be backed by data and measurable outcomes.
At the same time, she adopted a leadership style that many employees describe as both firm and approachable. Staff members began referring to her as “Mummy Kuku,” a nickname that reflects the balance she struck between demanding standards and showing concern for welfare and professional growth.
Training programmes expanded. Certification opportunities increased. Staff development became a visible priority. For many employees, this was the first time management had signalled that excellence would not only be demanded, but supported.
That shift matters because institutions do not change permanently through memos alone. They change when the people inside them begin to believe that standards are real and that performance has consequences.
The result? Efficiency is visible on the airside and the landslide. Staff receive passengers with smiles and are more willing to assist. The Protocol Team now go to the extreme to make their customers more comfortable. Professionalism has now returned to stay.
Restoring Dignity to Airport Facilities
The most visible reforms have been physical.
For years, airport restrooms were a national embarrassment and a recurring complaint from both domestic and international travellers. The new administration treated the issue as symbolic of a larger problem: if an airport cannot maintain its toilets, passengers will assume the entire system is broken.
FAAN introduced a model restroom concept with modern fittings, sensor taps, automated flushing systems, improved lighting, and stricter cleaning supervision. The renovation of the E-Wing toilets at Murtala Muhammed International Airport became a flagship project and was completed through a partnership that cost FAAN nothing directly.
Passengers noticed the difference.
Beyond restrooms, the Authority invested in runway reinforcement, upgraded lighting systems, improved terminal aesthetics, and introduced cultural murals that present Nigerian airports as spaces with identity and character rather than decay. Energy-efficiency measures were also introduced to reduce long-term operating costs.
These may sound like operational details, but they shape how a country presents itself to the world. Airports are often the first and last impression visitors carry away.
One of the most consequential changes has been technological.
Before Kuku’s tenure, many critical processes still depended on paper files, handwritten logs, and manual approvals. That created delays, inconsistency, and opportunities for leakage.
FAAN has since accelerated its move toward digital administration. Internal approvals and workflows are increasingly automated. Financial operations migrated to a cloud-based ERP system, allowing the authority to complete three years of previously outstanding audited financial statements. Revenue collection has been strengthened through cashless payment systems, reducing manual handling and improving transparency.
Biometric systems and CCTV analytics have also been deployed across priority airports, giving security operations a more modern backbone. The broader significance is this: FAAN is moving from a reactive bureaucracy to a data-driven institution.
Measuring Passenger Experience
Another notable shift is FAAN’s renewed commitment to the Airport Service Quality (ASQ) programme run by Airports Council International.
Previously treated largely as a compliance exercise, ASQ is now being used as a management tool. Passenger feedback on cleanliness, security, signage, ambience, and terminal services is collected, analysed, and used to guide investment decisions.
For example, when data identified air-conditioning and security processing as major pain points, those areas received targeted attention. That may seem obvious, but it marks a significant departure from a system where projects were often chosen without reliable feedback from actual users.
Nigerian airports’ ASQ scores have improved, and FAAN’s growing engagement with ACI Africa has opened new training and benchmarking opportunities with higher-performing airports across the continent and beyond.
Security reform has also been substantial.
Explosive Detection System machines have been deployed at key airports, while Aviation Security personnel have undergone retraining aligned with international standards. Risk management has been formalised through enterprise-wide risk registers that track hazards across airports, from infrastructure fatigue to emergency-response readiness.
Regular simulation exercises and joint emergency drills now form part of operational planning. CCTV analytics and digital monitoring systems have improved response times and oversight.
The broader point is that airport security is no longer being treated as a collection of isolated checkpoints. It is being approached as an integrated system.
On April 15th 2026, the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) officially issued an Aerodrome Certification to the Akanu Ibiam International Airport in Enugu. This milestone marked the airport’s first-ever international certification, confirming that its infrastructure, safety management systems, and emergency operations fully comply with International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) standards. What many did not realised at the time was that for the first time in Nigeria’s history, all five international airports were jointly certified. This a feat never imagined to be possible given the inter-agency politics that defined the sector before now.
Financial discipline may be the least glamorous part of the story, but it is one of the most important.
Revenue leakage had long undermined FAAN’s credibility and capacity. The new administration tightened collection systems, formalised commercial arrangements, and reviewed the viability of underperforming airports. Some facilities are now being repositioned as logistics, agro-export, or business-aviation hubs tied to their regional economies.
Most significantly, FAAN completed and presented three years of audited financial statements that had previously been outstanding. In public administration, that is not a minor achievement. It restores confidence among regulators, government, investors, and industry partners.
More Than an Airport Management Company
The cumulative effect of these reforms is that FAAN is beginning to look less like a struggling government agency and more like a strategic national institution.
The 2025 FAAN National Aviation Conference (FNAC) reflected that ambition. Discussions on air connectivity, cargo development, route expansion, and multimodal transport positioned aviation not as a narrow transport issue, but as a driver of trade, tourism, and economic growth.
Nigeria’s airports are still works in progress. No serious observer would claim that every problem has been solved in two years. But the direction of travel is clearer than it has been in a long time.
Under Olubunmi Kuku, FAAN has moved from managing decline to attempting renewal. The terminals are cleaner, the systems are smarter, the books are clearer, and the institution has rediscovered a sense of purpose.
The remaining question is whether Nigeria will fully capitalise on that momentum. Airports can open doors to investment, tourism, exports, and regional integration, but only if the wider economy and government ecosystem move with the same seriousness.

That is the larger conversation ahead.

*Babajide Fadoju, a communications consultant, writes from Oshodi, Lagos State.