Many passengers who travelled through the international wing of the Murtala Muhammed Airport (MMIA), Lagos and the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja since early 2017 after the ease of doing business policy was introduced by the federal government acknowledged that passenger processing has improved and now travellers spend less time checking in and going through security checks.
That was after the almighty security tables were dismantled and security operatives were made to stay away from where they would have direct interaction with the passengers. That way the process saves time and also the well known alleged extortion by security operatives was reduced to the barest minimum, according to officials of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) who spoke to THISDAY.
The newly appointed terminal manager for the international airport, Lagos, Tunde Ogini, told THISDAY on Tuesday that his priority was to make sure that the toilets are very clean and the cooling system is working in order to enhance passenger comfort.
According to him, in the next three to six months the international wing of the Lagos airport would witness a lot of improvement and that would be in addition to what has been achieved since last year. The historical visit made by the Vice President to the Lagos Airport last year on unscheduled inspection of facilities seemed to have spurred FAAN to uplift service at Lagos and other major airports in the country.
Passengers who regularly travel through the airport told THISDAY that federal government’s ease of doing business policy is felt more at the airports than elsewhere because even the Nigerian Immigration Service at the airports has transformed, as the agency has removed “those unnecessary bottlenecks that frustrate passengers at their desk and now it is easy to obtain visa on arrival if you have made the necessary plans and documentations.”
On improving the toilets and the cooling system at the Lagos Airport international terminal, Ogini said, “In addition to improving every aspect of the airport, our priority is to ensure that passengers are comfortable while they pass through the airport. So we are going to make sure that the toilets are clean and that the air conditioning system is working efficiently.
“If you go there now you will notice positive changes already at the concourse, arrival and departure, so in the next three to six months you are going to see a new airport in terms of service. The ease of doing business is making our job easier and passengers are happy for it,” Ogini said.
However, THISDAY investigations reveal that the security operatives at the airport, from the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), Quarantine, Customs and other security agencies at the airport, besides FAAN’s Aviation Security (AVSEC) are not happy that they have been “consigned” to anonymity so they have been trying to create an opportunity to start direct interface with passengers so that they will continue the alleged extortion.
At the entry of the terminal there is X-ray machine where the passenger must pass his luggage; besides the x-ray machine these security operatives have created a space where they stay and call in passengers with their luggage to quiz then and even search the luggage, thus starting all over what has been eliminated by the ease of doing business policy.
“We have planted cameras to monitor the activities of these security people, so when they are captured indulging in those excesses by CCTV they will not be able to deny their actions,” a FAAN official told THISDAY.
But the greatest achievement FAAN will record this year is when it will open the five new terminals at the Lagos, Abuja, Port Harcourt, Kano and Enugu airports. According to FAAN management, it is expected that when the terminals would come on stream there would be increase in passenger movement by 25 percent in the next three years. So it is projected that there would be overall passenger traffic from the current 15 million per annum to 22 million and international passenger traffic will increase from the current 4.2 million to 7 million.
Recently the Managing Director of FAAN, Saleh Dunoma spoke to THISDAY about the new airport terminals.
“We are working hard to make sure that sometime next year (2018), maybe by middle of next year. The two terminals in Abuja and in Lagos will come on stream because these are where we are experiencing upsurge in traffic. So since we have the same contractor handling the five terminals, we are asking the contractor to concentrate on Lagos and Abuja for now. When they are completed it will alleviate some issues as far as traffic growth is concerned in these two airports.
“Now, the other effort that we are making to get them on stream in good time is to make sure that other technical issues that are affecting or that will affect the operation of the terminal building are quickly handled.,” Dunoma said.
He explained that the new terminal in Abuja would face some challenges which the agency and the federal government are making serious effort to overcome so that it would be opened for business this year.
“In Abuja, we have an issue, because if you look at the structure in Abuja, before the new terminal, the structure was small, so there was no need to install a huge capacity of electricity. So we now need to increase the capacity of our standby. We are already working on the relocation of the tower and the fire house. We have done the assessment; we have located the place and we are planning that we will increase that capacity so that we will be able to accommodate this terminal in terms of power supply,” Dunoma also said.
The Minister of State, Aviation, Senator Hadi Sirika, on Tuesday, January 2, 2018 inspected the new terminal in Abuja and reiterated the challenges and assured that the relocation of fire facility and control tower as well as linking the terminal to rail system would need additional funding which government was poised to provide.
The new terminals are expected to transform the landscape of nation’s major airports and enhance passenger facilitation.
THISDAY
