by Chinedu Eze
Aviation industry experts have expressed divergent views on the rating of the Port Harcourt International Airport, Omagwa as the worst airport in the world by CNN’s survey and also the rating of three Nigerian airports as some of the worst by travel website, the Guide to Sleeping in Airports.
While some industry stakeholders and other Nigerians agreed that the rating reflected the realities at these airports, some government officials condemned the rating, pointing out that it did not take cognizance of recent developmental strides at these airports.
Former Chairman House of Representatives Committee on Aviation, Awwal Tukur said the rating was a true reflection of what was obtainable at the nation’s airports.
Speaking during an interview at the Annual League of Airport and Aviation Correspondents Seminar in Lagos on the theme, ‘Achieving a win -win Aviation sector in Nigeria’, former Chairman, House Committee on Aviation, Tukur said: “If you ask me a straight question, I will tell you that I agree, our airports are not nice place, coincidentally I travelled out of Abuja airport last Saturday and I was very uncomfortable and look at it, this report just came out on the same issue, as a country we need to react to it because it is out there in the public, most people say Nigeria is a horrible place but when you come in, you see that things are actually not what they paint the country to be. Let’s be truthful here, we have horrible airports and the report was not lying and we need to make them better, we need to make them functional so that they can compete internationally.”
Tukur said the way forward is for the government to be more proactive, less bureaucracy by privatising the airports and get it off from central control, regulate them and get private sector involved,
“Let us do things on time, don’t take a decision today and wait for 10 years before implementing it because by the time you are already it will be off the mark”, he said
On her part, the Permanent Secretary Federal Ministry of Aviation, Hajia Binta Bello said it was up to the leaders to agree or to disagree on the rating.
She said: “When I saw the rating, the question I asked is that, do we still have touts at the airports, are our airports dirty, are we corrupt, do we agree with all those questions, it is something that I cannot categorically say yes we are corrupt, our airports are not clean, our airports are congested, and so on. I am sure you can actually say if these airports are actually dirty, if this airports are full of touts, if these airports are chaotic, this morning I flew in from Abuja airport about five airlines were boarding at the same time I did not see any chaos there, it was a smooth operation, passengers were going to their various aircraft of the various airline operators and the whole operations was very smooth so I cannot accept that the airports are dirty, I cannot accept that the airports are congested, if we have a temporary challenge, it is because of the constructions that is going on at our airports, In Abuja for instance, we have work going on there and when all these are done, all will be in proper shape.”
