Managing Director of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), Mrs Olubunmi Kuku has given reasons why the Federal Government is embracing the public private partnership (PPP) models , because it creates financing opportunities that are provided by both the private sector and development financial institutions (DFIs).

Kuku who disclosed this while speaking at The African Air Transport Convention & Expo 2026 in Lomé, Togo on the topic: “Strategic Direction on Aviation Financing and Infrastructure Development” said PPP models are gaining traction in the aviation, not because of capital unavailability , but they are becoming compelling because of resilience of institutional credibility, regulatory certainty, and project discipline.

Despite the merits of PPP models, the challenge of project continuity , she said, has created bottlenecks requiring the Federal Government and entities involved in some PPP contracts to consider renegotiating their concession.

Kuku said there is, however, the need to provide some form of clarity around the management of some concession models.

Referencing the MMA2 concession between the Federal Government and Bi- Courtney Aviation Services Limited (BASL), the FAAN chief executive said : “I think the one thing I do want to say about successful PPP models is that it is not just driven by capital unavailability, but really around the resilience of institutional credibility, regulatory certainty, and project discipline. A lot of the challenges that we have seen are really around project continuity, a market risk that comes into play.

“So if you look at the Nigerian example, I believe that one of the most announced concession projects has been the Bi – Courtney project with the MM2, and has created a lot of noise and conflict. I’m happy to say that within this administration, we’ve done quite a bit of work in renegotiating the contract concession.

It’s now been resolved at the Federal Executive Council level. And what that means is that it provides better investor confidence for those that are looking to drive PPP projects. But more importantly, make sure that as we start to negotiate these contracts in the future, so that they’re fair to both the government and the private sector. In addition, we also want to make sure that there’s sort of clarity around management of those concession models.”

Kuku said there is a need to prioritize regional commitments to boost connectivity in the provision of regional infrastructure.

To achieve such projects, she called for the putting in place of a national aviation delivery team that will drive collaboration around infrastructure investments.

The FAAN boss called for the setting up of specialized desks in financial institutions with understanding of the aviation environment and some technical capacity for projects and facilities.

Kuku said advocacy for the setting of an Aviation Development Bank may not fix the myriad of challenges confronting the sector .

She said : “ I have heard a lot of talk from different people about setting up some sort of financing institutions. I strongly do not support that. I’d rather that the existing financing institutions set up specialized desks to understand the aviation environment.

“Such a desk will provide support, if possible, as part of this project preparation facilities, some sort of technical capability for the relevant stakeholders. Because what this does is, it gives them a better understanding of presenting these bankable projects as well, so that they’re working side by side.”

She said given her background in project financing, the challenge with the aviation industry is not just having availability of funding but finding projects that are actually bankable.

She said:” What we’ve done at the FAAN is really try to understand our market and where the opportunities lie for us .

“There’s a huge opportunity for cargo and when i ask for that data for us to look at the end-to-end value chain to take our investment decisions and we find out that there’s a bit of a gap so for us a couple of things that we’ve outlined based on this immediate needs.

“We ‘ve sort of taken a look and prepared a road map to balance between what we need to do for those airports that we consider viable and the secondary airports there’s a road map that has been put together so short term medium and long term short term is to sort of stabilize our airports and not just build large infrastructure but infrastructure that makes it seamless for the passengers to travel.”

She spoke of plans to implement a lot of digital infrastructure that will improve the travel experience.

Kuku said:” We’ve signed up for the advanced passenger information and passenger reference number digitization. Even on departure now, we’re rolling out biometrics. We did have challenges with the self-service care that we had rolled out because of the check-in procedures that have been rolled out from a regulatory perspective.

“We’re working through that. But also biometrics, as well as technology for our baggage handling equipment as well. What we’re then doing is looking at our secondary airports to look at the type of infrastructure that is required and make sure that we’re looking at the investment types.

“So are we working from a government intervention where those smaller airports, there’s some sort of guarantee schemes, for example, for airlines that are looking to come in. That way, we can develop those routes a bit further with the opportunities that exist.