Lagos — The Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria has intensified its upgrade of the nation's 21 airport facilities as part of efforts aimed at raising them to international standard.

Presently the runways of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport - 18L -36R- and Port Harcourt International Airport are undergoing resurfacing and reconstruction. These include upgrading their airfield lighting to CAT III status. The rehabilitation of the Lagos runway is about 70 per cent, including improvement to the profile. The latter ensures more safety and proper upgrading of the facility to international standard.

The Lagos project, handled by PW Nigeria Limited, is being executed at the cost of N4.5bn while that of Port Harcourt is at the cost of N4bn.

The Managing Director of FAAN, Mr. Muhammad Yusufu, said in Lagos that his administration would, amidst the limited resources of the authority, ensure the computerisation of its operations to achieve the objective.

Yusufu believed that with the computerisation, which is expected to boost the revenue profile of the organisation, FAAN operations would foster efficient service delivery.

The authority is currently preparing the airports for certification and licensing in consonance with the International Civil Aviation Organisation's recommendations in 2006.

The organisation had already covered most of the airports in terms of documentation, while the documents had been submitted to the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority for further oversight function and appraisal.

The certification and licensing of the airports are expected to be completed in April 2008.

Though a Herculean task, the Muhammad Yusufu administration has also begun the rehabilitation and/overhaul of most of the runways at the nation's airports.