Ripe for Greatness: Bunmi Kuku as First Female MD at FAAN

Greatness is seldom coloured in blue or pink, but leadership positions regularly fall to men. This tide has started to change in Nigeria’s civil and corporate space but did not reach the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) until now. With Bunmi Kuku taking up the FAAN Managing Director position, she has broken the record and is considered the first female MD at the agency.

Where radical changes are needed, radical decisions have to be made. Because President Bola Tinubu expects great things out of FAAN, he has committed its future to the fair and competent hands of Kuku. With the latter’s expertise, the agency is expected to evolve from mediocrity and routine aspirations to become an authentic arm of the aviation industry.

Kuku’s commitment to her new position fits these expectations. According to her, her game plan for FAAN exceeds the usual narrative of building and fixing infrastructure. Instead, she intends to rejig the agency and reduce all waste in favour of phenomenal revenue generation, and an efficient, safe, and satisfying passenger experience.

Kuku’s emergence at FAAN follows President Tinubu’s retirement of Kabir Mohammed as the agency’s MD. This seemingly ordinary decision has led to record-breaking with the suspension of the gender trail of male leadership at the agency.

Kuku’s appointment is clearly impartial since she is an experienced hand in all things aviation. Between 2011 and 2014, she made her contributions to the industry as the Special Assistant to the Honourable Minister of Strategy and Infrastructure Development at the Federal Ministry of Aviation.

Not even mentioning how she designed roadmaps for the industry at that time, she helped to pilot several infrastructure development projects and reinforced efforts towards the National Carrier Project.

With Kuku at the captain post of FAAN, great things are expected of the agency. Having experienced male leadership all this time, one wonders how much will change with the emergence of the first female MD.