The Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) said it has ended check-in disruptions and delays for international passengers occasioned by the withdrawal of the services of SITA (Société Internationale de Télécommunications Aéronautiques), which had been providing IT and communication solutions at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Lagos and Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja.
The agency also disclosed that it has engaged the services of another company, ICTS, on temporary basis to provide the stopgap measures until the agency finalises deal with SITA successor, RESA, Airport Data System, which it said would save the government about $5 million annually.
Following the disengagement of SITA by FAAN, the global IT Company abruptly withdrew its services on June 1, 2021, contrary to earlier agreement with the agency and paralysed the Common User Terminal Equipment (CUTE) system, forcing airlines to resort to manual check-in of passengers, which caused delays in passenger facilitation.
The Managing Director of FAAN, Captain Rabiu Yadudu, told THISDAY at the weekend, that SITA was supposed to have continued to provide services till the end of August, but the company abruptly shut down its system to paralyse passenger facilitation.
However, he explained that the agency has engaged the services of another company, which is now providing the services on temporary basis.
“So, to prepare for SITA exit, we worked with another company called ICTS to provide the stopgap measures; during the transition, ICTS will provide the common user self-service kiosk that is easily adoptable for passengers to use for their facilitation for their flights and the airlines can easily use the same kiosk within few minutes to change the name to CUTE, which we provided about 12 months ahead of the transition period juts to make sure that things go on seamlessly.
“We provided the stopgap measures and some of the airlines were a bit reluctant to implement the new measures and for those who migrated, it is working for them.
“Additionally, we worked with SITA to ensure that during the transition, we sought their cooperation and understanding that they will be there to prevent service disruption and they agreed.
“We all have responsibility to ensure things go on smoothly. SITA and RESA are two companies known worldwide for provision of aviation management system,” the Managing Director of FAAN explained.
Yadudu acknowledged that sudden withdrawal of services by SITA led to long queues and delays, as airlines resorted to manual check in but noted that SITA, which reneged on earlier agreement it reached with FAAN betrayed the agency, which led to the disruption of facilitation.
He explained why FAAN decided to terminate its services with SITA.
“I think the passengers are having the challenge right now because FAAN planned to upgrade and remove the exiting system, which was provided by SITA. It has been in operation for over 10 years.
“The agreement was due for renewal and SITA did not participate creditably in line with the Nigeria procuring process and they are fully aware. We informed them much earlier of this. However, RESA of France participated and emerged as the only winner of that procurement process. It was all done transparently.
“Towards the end of the contract, SITA requested for six months extension, which will make it easier for SITA to continue to operate. In addition to SITA operating, these self-service kiosks are also available to make sure things are going on as planned.
“We provided two systems that can be working to make sure things are going on as planned. So, by two months into the six months agreement, SITA said they would only do three months. In the last month, they now put a lot of tough conditions, which were not part of the initial agreement. We knew something was amiss,” Yadudu said.
He further explained that SITA was meant to operate till a new organisation took over and even three months after that take over.
On the company that would take over from SITA on permanent basis, known as RESA, Yadudu, described it as a world-class company known for the provision of IT and communication solutions, just like SITA.
“Whether you take my word or not, RESA and SITA are the most popular in the world. They do 95 per cent of the service worldwide. There is no question about whether RESA is good or not. As far as we are concerned, we did our due diligence and we were open.
“What is more, we had a contract that cuts across only two airports with SITA; Lagos and Abuja, while FAAN went for a much more comprehensive agreement. We went for five international airports with RESA. To us, it is a much more improvement and we added some services like the baggage reconciliation system and others for 10 years,” he disclosed.
The FAAN boss said the only time the agency owed SITA was during the Coronavirus pandemic, which everyone knew devastated global economy, especially the air transport sector, adding that passengers comfort and easy facility are FAAN’s primary objective.
Industry expert and Chief Consultant of Belujane Konsult Limited, Chris Aligbe revealed to THISDAY that the new deal with Arlington Securities Nigeria Limited, which is Nigerian representative of RESA involved a one- off payment to the French-based company amounting to N10.59 billion and every year, FAAN would pay annual licence and management fees and RESA’s services would be extended to five airports; instead of two airports provided service by SITA.
