Nigerians who travel to international destinations from the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Lagos have lamented the depreciation of facilities at the terminal, thereby making passenger facilitation a horrible experience.
The passengers decried the limited capacity of the terminal, broken down air conditioning and the obsolete carousel (conveyor belt), which fail to work most of the time in recent times.
When THISDAY visited the terminal, passengers on arrival and others who were checking in to leave the country, complained that facilities at the airport terminal, which processes over 60 per cent of Nigerians who travel aboard, have degenerated.
Giving that the country is now into dry season, the terminal has become so hot because most of the air conditioners are not working efficiently.
Also, the conveyor belt breaks down very often, thereby causing flight delays and those working at the airport suffer from heat.
Informed source told THISDAY that the passenger facilitation system, Common Use Terminal Equipment (CUTE), which International Aeronautical Telecommunications Society (SITA) withdrew its services in May last year and replaced by RESA still experiences hiccups, which also delays passenger movement.
In August last year, the Managing Director of FAAN, Captain Rabiu Yadudu assured air travellers that passenger facilitation system would be restored in a more efficient manner but since then, airlines have been complaining about the inefficient service under RESA.
“The previous system we had is CUTE, the Common User Terminal Equipment, but we now want to upgrade to new technology, which isCUPPS: Common User Passengers Processing System. In addition, the self-service kiosk we never had, which is CUSE (Common User Self Service) comes with the new system. The departure control system we never had is all now here, baggage reconciliation system is coming here; FIDS (Flight Information Display System) will be installed too, at least in Lagos,” Yadudu had assured, but international airlines said that that system is not working effectively.
Last week, a well-known Nigerian entertainer arrived the country through the Lagos airport and complained about the heat, saying that she had pity for the personnel who work at the terminal.
Also an aviator who was travelling out of the country wrote, “I am currently at MMIA trying to check-in. No belts (conveyor belt) working. I’m sweating buckets as (there is) no air conditioning and wondering what I paid $200 PSC (Passenger Service Charge) for?”
A top airline staff at the airport terminal told THISDAY, “Air conditioning is not working.
Baggage conveyor belt is not working. It breaks down after every two days, but everyday we hear that billions of naira has been voted to revamp it. Passenger facilitation equipment is not working effectively. Since SITA left it is one hiccup or the other. When SITA was here they were managing the system by themselves but currently the equipment has been sub-let at three levels. We have Arlington; we have RESA and one other company. If I show you the picture of the baggage belt you will be shocked. FAAN workers don’t see themselves as service providers; rather, they see airlines personnel as those serving them.
“They generate so much money that Ghana does not even come near to them when it comes to revenue generation. FAAN charges $100 for passenger service charge, while Ghana charges $50 but FAAN has more passenger throughput. Why can’t FAAN replace conveyor belt from its petty cash account, but it remitted N16.7 billion to the federation account?”
Industry expert and Managing Director of Flights and Logistics Solutions Limited, Amos Akpan told THISDAY that infrastructure facilities at the Lagos airport are bad, noting that the airport is not passenger friendly.
“If you watch the video of how passengers’ bags are thrown about by handling company workers, you will agree with me that the airport is not passenger friendly. The checking in system is bad. The infrastructure is totally bad. Airports are built for the comfort of passengers, their luggage, cargo and for airlines. Any airport that does not meet this requirement is not worthy to be an airport. So after safety the next is customer comfort. How comfortable are the passengers? The Lagos airport is not friendly.
“It is only those that enter VIP lounge that have some comfort so the airport is segregating passenger comfort for a class of passengers. Ideally avio-bridges should have maintenance calendar but here they have to breakdown down before you think of replacing or rehabilitating them. FAAN is still concentrating on kinetic for aviation security when other airports are concentrating on biodata, profiling and technology. They are talking of giving guns to aviation security personnel,” Akpan said.
However, FAAN has assured the airport users that it is doing everything possible to ensure seamless passenger facilitation and comfort.
In a statement issued by the General Manager, Public Affairs, Mrs. Henrietta Yakubu, FAAN said, “Contrary to the misinformation presently making the rounds online as depicted by some pictures posted suggesting a breakdown in the baggage processing system at the Murtala MuhammedInternational Airport, Lagos, the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria wishes to inform passengers and the general public that what is going on is a routine maintenance of the conveyor belts.
“The procedure is in line with our facilities maintenance program, aimed at ensuring optimal performance of the airport’s facilities. We therefore appeal to our highly esteemed stakeholders to please bear with us, as the maintenance work will soon be completed.”
THISDAY confirmed that the baggage conveyor belt has been repaired many times but it still breaks down often.
