The ‘standoffish’ Murtala Muhammed int’l Airport

For a country the size of Nigeria, with a huge travelling population, the Murtala Mohammed International Airport Lagos, Nigeria’s major gateway, is an eyesore. This is beyond the dysfunctionality of the structure and its atmosphere. Everything is wrong with the airport.

Many feel that it is one of the most unfriendly airports in the world. It’s very unwelcoming to visitors, passengers and airline staff; and probably the operator.

The remodeling exercise of the airports embarked upon by former Minister of Aviation, Stella Oduah was a sham to say the least. The truth is that the Murtala Muhammed Airport, Lagos that attracts millions of passengers in annual throughput, has a huge potential than any airport in Africa, and so, deserves a turnkey multibillion-dollar investment.

Nigeria should be seeing the type of OR Tambo International airport if the funds for remodeling were well spent. This is Nigeria where anything goes.

Some of the hurriedly done airport refurbishing are already showing quick signs of decay.

Travelling overseas through Nigerian airports, particularly the Murtala Muhammed Airport, Lagos is likened to war .You are practically exhausted by the time you get onboard your flight after security operatives make you go through some of the gruesome security screenings in the world.

One noticeable thing is the air of hostility that pervades the entire departure hall especially checking in of passengers and arrival. It is only in Nigeria, Nigerian Customs Service, officials, Immigration, Police and other security agencies who should ordinarily not have business with check-in dip their hands into passengers’ luggage with the excuse of checking for contrabands.

If truly, the scanning machines are working optimally, there is no reason to do manual security checks. This harrowing experience makes the Lagos airport a big stress for intending and arriving passengers.

Nowhere in the world that I have visited have I seen such a crazy method of passenger facilitation. At OR Thambo Airport, Johannesburg, it takes less than 15 minutes to get your luggage tagged, boarding passed issued and immigration processes concluded. Many functional airports adhere to quicker facilitation of passenger. But in Nigeria, the situation is different, thinking that these barriers were deliberately put there to extort money from frustrated travellers.

Most of the security officials are seen openly demanding bribes as if it is their right. They do it with such arrogance without caring to know the identity of the person they are demanding bribes from.

The effort by former Minister of Aviation, Osita Chidoka to cleanse the rot perpetrated by all the security officials including those of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) seems not to have yielded fruits. Chidoka had laid down a strong rule to curtail extortion by these officials.

He had stated that such actions damage Nigeria and destroy the fabric of its image in the comity of nations.

Wole Shadare