The Secretary General of Airports Council International (ACI) Africa, Mr. Ali Tounsi, has disclosed that over 500 delegates have been confirmed for next week’s 35th Annual General Assembly holding in Abuja, far exceeding the initial projection of 350 to 400 delegates.
Tounsi gave the hint Thursday at a press conference in Abuja.
He noted: “I am really surprised by the number because in the beginning the estimation was about 350 and 400, but now we have 500 and this is because of some logistics problem as the number is exceeding what we predicted at the beginning.
“This is also about the attractiveness of Nigeria and Abuja especially and also the interest of this event for the industry. So we will have more than 500 participants and more than 40 speakers, sponsors and exhibitors, so it will be a very good event for FAAN.”
On the theme of the conference, “Next Gen Airports: Driving Performance and Resilience”, Tounsi said the conference was designed to address the major challenges facing African airports.
He stressed that 80 per cent of airports in Africa are not financially efficient, coupled with challenges of digitalisation, natural catastrophes, accidents and incidents.
Tounsi lamented that the industry is facing a lot of problems, including efficiency of the airports, adding 80 per cent of the airports in Africa are not efficient financially.
He explained that the conference is not about infrastructure and money alone, but about digitalisation, environment, skills and people.
Tounsi noted: “This conference is about helping airports and demonstrating how we can face all these problems in the future. It’s to make airports and people aware about the challenges and how we can resolve this through committees and experts.”
On why Abuja and Nigeria were chosen to host, the ACI Africa Secretary General said this was the third time Nigeria is hosting the event after 2010 and 2017 in Lagos.
He described Nigeria as one of the biggest aviation markets in Africa and a leader in the West African region.
“Nigeria is one of the biggest markets in the aviation sector in Africa and in the West Africa region and the aviation industry in Nigeria is very developed compared to others. Nigeria can influence the region and can demonstrate what it can do for the aviation and airport sector in Africa,” he said.
Tounsi stressed that the choice of Abuja was not a coincidence but a deliberate effort to show that airports in Africa can be better, using Nigeria as an example.
Also, the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) said it has mobilised over 100 personnel, while working closely with sister security agencies to ensure a best-in-class experience for delegates attending the 35th ACI Africa Annual General Assembly.
The Managing Director of FAAN, Mrs. Olubunmi Kuku noted that FAAN is collaborating with the Nigeria Immigration Service, Nigeria Customs Service, the Department of State Services (DSS) and other security organisations to ensure preventive measures are in place.
“This has been a long time coming. We had a significant number of individuals, over hundred people from the Nigerian side working very closely with ACI Africa to ensure that whatever arrangements we make for this 35th Annual General Assembly gives the best in class experience.
“We are working very closely with a lot of the security agencies as well as our sister agencies, the likes of Immigration and Customs, the DSS and of course a lot of the other security organizations, just to make sure that preventive measures are put in place,” Kuku added.