The Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria(FAAN) has promised that not long from now toilets in the five international airports  in Nigeria will be upgraded and take new shape.

The Authority is upgrading them from their appalling state to the level that is befitting  international gateway.

Director Airport Operations FAAN, Capt. Abdullahi Mohmood stated this while fielding questions from newsmen.

“The  toilets of the airport are appalling. So now we ventured into looking at how to upgrade the whole toilets, most especially the five international airports that we have, and the work is still ongoing  on their remodeling  ”

“ Nigerians will see the new toilets that we are going to launch in all the terminals in Nigerian airports. That work is already ongoing.”

On the issue of certification of our airports, most especially the Lagos and Abuja, Capt. Mahmood said  that there were  major challenges they faced when the new administration came in.

“There are so many gaps that we found when we came in. We have seen the report from the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority, whereby these gaps need to be closed.”

“I will tell you confidently today that most of the gaps that needed to be closed for the certification have already been closed.”

On runway excursion,he said FAAN had a schedule for the runway friction test and derubberisation. According to him,derubberisation has a schedule that is based on the number of landings of an aircraft on a particular runway which you can use to measure the frequency of the derubberisation.

Asked if FAAN has enough evacuation equipment,his response “yes, we have the aircraft recovery equipment. We have a complete set in Abuja. This equipment is not the kind that you must have at every airport. It is very, very expensive equipment. And it is not equipment that you just buy and put in a store.”

“In some countries that have it, neighbouring countries when they need it, they fly it down, to remove aircrafts. We have enough. We have a complete set and the operators are trained. They were in the Netherlands; they went to the UK for training.”

“It is brand new equipment sitting down fully serviceable. As I am talking to you now, the Minister is in the process of buying another set, bringing it to Lagos.”

“I have seen it, they have already started talking to the people and all the process of the purchase is already in the pipeline. Infrastructure is key to airline operations.”