Who Is In Charge Of Nigerian Airports?

By Dr. Muiz Banire SAN

This poser reminds me of President Muhammadu Buhari’s speech during his first term inauguration in office that he belonged to everybody while simultaneously belonging to nobody. Relating this to Nigerian airports, I say everybody is in charge of Nigerian airports while truly nobody is in charge of Nigerian airports. As the Yoruba proverb says: Esin ajobo, ebi lo n paa ku.

And as the proverbial horse in the proverb, the Nigerian horse being fed by all is now famishing to death. Thus, nobody is in charge of the management of Nigerian airports. I am sure, as a reader of this column, you will be wondering why I am saying this, or what really is my mission or where is my destination. Certainly, this is a legitimate enquiry, which I shall pretty shortly answer. Generally speaking, the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) is in charge of Nigerian airports, by statute.

This stems from the appreciation of the stamp of authority the agency is meant to have over the control of airports. This is, however, as far as the provision and maintenance of the structures and associated infrastructures are concerned, but this is not conclusive as I shall unveil in the course of this conversation. My enquiry in this discourse arose out of passengers’ experience at our international airports. As most travellers or users of our international airports are familiar with, we are often confronted with arrays of uniformed officials as we travel out and return into the country. The familiar agents you interact with, at the barest minimum, include officers of the Nigerian Customs, men of the Immigration Service, officers of the Department of State Security, men of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, Quarantine Services, health control officers, FAAN security officials and, at times, the Nigeria Police as well as the Nigerian Air Force.

Prior to the intervention of the Vice-President, Prof Yemi Osibajo, GCON, SAN, in the sanitization of the Lagos International Airport, arising from the then reigning confusion, no passenger could escape the preying eyes of virtually all the above-mentioned agencies. The protocol then used to be that a passenger gets checked by all of them at one point or the other, thereby making each journey less than pleasurable. Each journey used to be tortuous and harrowing then, as you must have been completely stressed out before boarding the aircraft. Stress, of course, in this context includes financial, as you would be made to directly or indirectly part with some funds. It took the said unscheduled visit of the Vice-President while acting as the President to the international airport in Lagos to reorganize and sanitize the Lagos International Airport. Based on the directives of the Vice-President, only two checkpoints, or, if you prefer, inspection points, existed since then.

Once you pass through the x-ray machine at the entry with your luggage, with the oversight of the relevant officials, the only other point is the Immigration/State Security departmental desk. This made life easier for the travellers across Lagos or those travelling via Lagos airports. With that development, I had thought that whoever was responsible for the airports would institutionalize this across all other international airports, at least, by way of uniformity. Alas, this is not so. My recent trip via the Aminu Kano International Airport revealed this much to me. Travelling out through the Aminu Kano International Airport is like a cow striving to pass through the eye of a needle. I personally experienced not fewer than 11 checkpoints before finally boarding the aircraft. I even understand it could be more than that at times, depending on your luck. Interestingly, most of the checkpoints were manned by faceless or unidentifiable officials whose role you really don’t even know. The most horrendous of this is the Immigration desk in Kano. Where the passport and visa are checked by an Immigration official is different from where the fingerprints and face capture take place.

All of this requiring punitive queues. Now, is there any coordination of the activities of these various agencies at the airport? Obviously, there is none. Each agency operates as an island and in silos. There is absolutely no teamwork. The effect of this anarchical arrangement is that Nigerians are made to suffer so much before they could board the aircraft to their destinations. The worst thing is that all these take place in a hostile environment devoid of any ventilation. The environment is never conducive and always so terribly hot that a person gets easily dehydrated. I recall my last arrival at the Lagos airport, for instance, I was virtually fainting until I saw a pillar I could lean on. This is murderous. As if that is insufficient, there is hardly any clean and hygienic toilet to use in case of the call of nature. The place stinks like an animal dungeon. I remember even during my arrival at the Kano airport, the electricity or power went off, throwing all of us into darkness. This is in a supposedly new airport building that was configured in a climate-unfriendly way. No proper aeration or ventilation, much less lighting when the power is off. As remarked above, the discomfort suffered by Nigerians in the process of this chaos is better imagined than experienced.

Is it that we need the Vice-President to visit each of the international airports in the nation to enthrone order? What is the responsibility of the Minister for Aviation, busy promising impossibilities? Air Nigeria is still in limbo. Rather than him addressing this challenge, he is busy boasting about resources for election. One would have thought that enthroning sanity at the airports would have been one of the campaign references, where such matters other than money! The basis upon which he is campaigning, therefore, beats one’s imagination. I recall him boasting recently that his party had acquired sufficient fund to ‘muscle’ the votes of the electorate. Where else could the money have come from? Certainly, he cannot run on the steam of the governmental achievements, as he knows that the verdict according to his fellow compatriots in government and in the ruling party, Ganduje of Kano State, El-Rufai of Kaduna State and others, is that their government has only succeeded in inflicting pain on the citizens. Kudos to all of them. Just as the aviation minister has succeeded in inflicting more pains on us as travellers. Today, we pay one of the highest fares in the world both for international and domestic flights. Worst one is, despite the astronomical fares, we are usually flown with the worst aircraft in the fleet of most of the airlines. This is our story and life. Since it is now obvious that the minister of aviation is not in charge of the international airports nor any other airport, irrationally due to distraction, can we then search for an alternative person or institution that can coordinate the affairs at our airports?

If the London experience is considered and adopted, one will notice that, beyond the Border Force, the Immigration Service, in our instance, sparingly do you see Customs officers who remotely examine and inspect bags. Beyond these two United Kingdom agencies, you certainly will not come across any other agency harassing you at the border of the international airports, as obtainable in Nigeria. The net effect of this is simply that, in saner climes, only two agencies, at best, you are ever likely to come across at the airports, the immigration service and the customs service, occasionally. These are the relevant agencies in any international airport worth its salt, as all other agencies operate remotely through technology and intelligence. Since it is safe to conclude that, in Nigeria, there is nobody in charge of the coordination of the airports, multiple things must happen to engender sanity. The very first is that there must be uniformity of operations across all the international airports in Nigeria.

Secondly, there must be an overhaul of the security agencies whose presence is relevant at the international airports. In this wise, I believe that only the Immigration Service and the Customs are, at best, required at the international airports. All other agencies must operate remotely, as what they are doing manually in order to extort money can much better be performed through technology with greater degrees of success. Even for the Customs, proper technology must be availed them to scan from afar luggage being brought into the country. They must not be regularly visible, except on occasions of show of presence. Stemming from the above, the major agency that must remain visible should be the Immigration Service through which other agencies can operate. For instance, I am aware that the Immigration Service has custody of a huge data of Nigerians, particularly Nigerians with international travelling passports, through which they can assist other agencies in case of watch-listing. Why the need for the men of the State Security Department then?

Otherwise, the anti-corruption agencies, the Nigeria Police and other agencies must have presence at the airports to monitor their suspects too. This being an invitation to further chaos at the international airports. If this proposition is acceptable, it then means that there will be only only one check/inspection point in and out of the country’s international airports, thereby ensuring sanity at the airports. Touting and racketeering will be substantially reduced, if not eliminated. Infrastructures will even endure as there will be less traffic, and security shall be enhanced as faceless or unidentifiable people would not find comfort there. These are some of the advantages that will be derived from the rationalization of the agencies at the airports. The import of all the above is that we do not have to wait for the Vice-President to come and help restructure the other international airports as done by him in Lagos. Civility dictates that we overhaul the present system in a manner that someone will be in charge rather than everybody being in charge. FAAN, if given the leverage, can make this happen, at least, as the landlord of all the agencies. It is hoped that someone, somewhere will yield to this simple plea on behalf of Nigerians. Enough of this torture and pains by those who are meant to make our lives easier.