“My wife and I returned to Nigeria today. Our experience at the airport in Lagos, alongside other travellers, was interesting.
First, after deplaning, we were shuttled to the ‘new airport terminal’ because a previous fire incident had rendered the main terminal building inoperable. The shuttle bus ride was nervy, especially towards the end when it scraped up the ramp.
“Second, we got stuck in the lift of the new terminal building after a power outage. Thankfully it was brief. We quickly exited the lift and used the stairs.
“Third, the restroom at the point of entry had no running water.
“Fourth, we waited approximately two hours for our luggage. The luggage belt was only working in fits and starts and the entire environment was a study in confused activity, amidst yells and loud conversations.
Fifth, while the immigration process was reasonably efficient, we encountered the usual corps of mendicants in plainclothes and uniforms asking for this and that. It was depressing.
“Let’s say that the euphoria of my holiday has quickly dissipated after my raw encounter with our reality.”
These are the comments from a retired chief executive of a multinational company in Nigeria on his arrival at MMIA just last week.This type of comments is common amongst passengers coming in or going out of the Murtala Muhamed International Airport daily out of frustration and bad experiences they are confronted with at the number one gateway.
All these bad tales are obviously due to many years of doing same things same ways and the irresponsible failures of those responsible for paying attention to the maintenance of the airports but chose to divert attentions to other lesser important areas for selfish purposes.
The experience narrated above by the retired chief executive of the multinational company is again another sincere observation and experience coming from the users of the airport facilities who are voicing out their displeasure with the system that has taken so much from them through the fares and other levies, to make their travels more seamless and thoroughfare.
The good news is that the present minister of aviation and aerospace development, Mr Festus Keyamo has stepped in to save the air transport sector in the country from these unpalatable bad image the structural deficits at the airports particularly the Lagos airport keeps attracting to the country.
The contradiction in this shenanigans is that it is the Lagos airport which lays the golden eggs for other airports to survive that has been neglected for such a long time.
The saddest part Is that even the new terminal built by China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation (CCECC) with huge loans that should automatically be an alternative to the obsolete terminal built almost 50 years ago has unfortunately fallen short of critical components.
The minister, during his maiden tour of the airport, had promised not only to carry out a total overhaul repairs of the old terminal building, but correct the structural errors at the new terminal, an action which has begun.
While the minister deserves commendation for making efforts to clear the Augean Stables of his predecessors, it is expected that he will use his good offices to prevail on the presidency and the National Assembly to give priority to the Lagos airport project in their budget status.
The Lagos airport as the highest internally generated revenue airport in the country should be given the funds required to carry out a quick fix for the sake of fairness and justice on one hand, and for the sake of the air travellers and other airport users who have been at the receiving end of the long negligence on the other hand.
One obvious fact is that efforts are ongoing to bring sanity back to the already collapsed structures at the Lagos airport, but among the questions calling for answer is: “for how long will the passengers endure the discomfort and bad experience thrown at them by the systemic failure?.”
Above all, at the end of the day, if the government succeeds at resolving the infrastructural decay of the Lagos airport, all these efforts may go down the drain if it fails to equally carry out a total overhaul of the human beings across all the agencies performing different roles there.
It is on records that many of these humans from agencies like: the customs, immigrations, police, NDLEA, FAAN security and many others are contributing to the complaints made by the retired CEO of the multinational firm and other travellers through the additional psychological pains they inflict on them all in the name of extorting them. At this stage when airports around the world are constantly coming up with better ideas to make them ‘heaven on earth’, Nigeria, with all its potential, cannot afford to remain an island for aviation is a global entity run in line with international standards and recommended practices, devoid of local politics.
and then