FAAN to build hospitals at five major airports

The Managing Director of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), Capt. Hamisu Yadudu said management is to be built hospitals in Enugu, Port-Harcourt, Abuja and Kano explaining to staff that the rationale behind this move is to ensure a healthy workforce and prepare the airports in case of emergencies.

Yadudu made this known at the FAAN Unions’ Conference 2020 with the theme: Collective Bargaining: A Tool for superior organisational performance, stating that the top floors of the hospital will be a four 10-bed ward that would wide enough to take 20 beds in the case of an emergency.

Yadudu said, “Many of the airports we are going to don’t have hospitals, Enugu told me directly ‘no hospital’ and most of the others have under capacity, only Lagos has a standard hospital, four months ago, we commissioned the engineering and now we are going to have a standard building we are going to build across initially five (5) major airports and another five major airports so we can improve capacity, the building we have the design, it’s already in procurement now and we will do it in Enugu, Port Harcourt, Kano, Abuja also has a very small shack.

“The seven biggest airports in performance and capacity we will build seven and the following year we build another seven so that each the building will be similar and we discussed with all the doctors and they told us we need a building and our equipment for medical care are out modelled so we need new equipment.

“We are going to have doctors to come in maybe for the cardiology, optometry for the eyes and the important ones so if we have the standard structures doctors can come at least once or twice a week and attend to our personnel and those outside so it becomes a means of revenue generation.

“We are getting this building done, we are getting primary equipment to be imported and quietly installed in all these buildings.

“And because airports plan for emergencies we are going to have the top floor forwards that would have 10 beds, four wards with 10 beds but wide enough to take 20 beds in the case of emergency.

On staff and performance and management’s relationship with the union, the FAAN helmsman said the current team made it clear from the start that what staff saw was what they got emphasising their resolve to engage, reach agreements and honour them.

“Even as we are working to improve welfare, you as staff must improve performance you cannot keep underperforming, you will be held accountable people have to be held accountable for their performance, you have a responsibility so please while we are busy improving the welfare, you also know if you keep on underperforming, you will be held personally accountable, nothing goes for nothing we are taking human lives, it happens everywhere it’s nothing personal, it’s professional position we have to take.

“If all human endeavours are aimed towards success or progress, then it is important that we engage with you to achieve goals. We don’t want to leave here one day achieving nothing. We also urge the unions to concentrate on their achievements and not the fighting and not the aluta! The aluta is important when you don’t get a listening ear, where there is no hope and you have nothing to lose; it makes people do their worst. But when you gave a partner and we say give us a chance to prove to you that we mean what we say.