“Welcome to Murtala Muhammed international Airport, Lagos. You are assured of your safety, security and comfort by the management of Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN)”. This is a broadcast message that welcomes passengers and other airport users to the nation’s busiest airport. But to what extent has FAAN lived to its bidding of ensuring a save, secured and comfortable airport in the nation in the recent time?
Going by development at the Lagos Airport since year 2017 and up till the present moment, investigations and data at the disposal of African Business Travel News (ABTN) indicated that FAAN has up its stakes at boosting safety, security and comfort in all 22 airports under its control across the country, taking the Murtala Muhammed Airport, Lagos as a model.
Beginning with the airport’s environment, regular users of the Lagos airport have in the last three months give kudos to the management of FAAN on innovations brought in to restore the aesthetic look of the airport even as safety and security are not compromised.
Many passengers as well as other stakeholders in the airport agreed that the airport has worn a new look. They claimed that apart from the emerging skyline, depicted by the newly constructed multi level car park and the ongoing new terminal projects, Murtala Muhammed International Airport, despite its age, can boast of very clean and well groomed landside environment.
They also claimed that security stakes on land and air sides of the airport have witnessed significant progress in many areas such as surveillance, monitoring, patrol and prompt responses to emergency situations.
In terms of facilities, the stakeholders who spoke with our correspondents agreed that the state of the toilet and cooling systems in both international and domestic terminals have received boost which no one could condemn.
They claimed that prior to this time, parking of vehicle and crowd control were uphill tasks for security operatives in the airport because there were no adequate car parks and crowd control measures put in place to restrict people accessing the airport. However, with the reorganization of parking spaces for vehicles and movement of passengers around the airport, the stakeholders argued that traffic congestion which used to be the trade mark of the airport at peak hours and days has disappeared while only people who have genuine businesses in the airport terminal are granted access.
Departing passengers accompanied by retinue of family members and friends who come to the airport in convoy of vehicles parked indiscriminately under the pretence of not having sufficient space to park, can no longer tender such excuses because FAAN has provided enough parking spaces for both passengers, their meeters and greeters as well as the airport stakeholders.
While passengers are expected to drive into the multi level car park and walk to and from the terminal, a distance of about three minutes, stakeholders, usually airport workers and suppliers, park their vehicles at the old Avitech Car park and get free co-bus ride to and from the terminal.
An airport user, who operates a lounge in the terminal, while speaking with our correspondent on the new development or feat FAAN has achieved at keeping the Lagos airport clean of the nuisance of indiscriminate parking and presence of miscreants around the airport, said, “this has brought great relief to every user of the airport.”
The lounge operator who does not want identities disclosed for personal reasons, said if FAAN had been allowed to do what it is doing now, nobody would had thought of concessioning the airport.
“I have been here as a lounge operator for close to a decade now and I had worked in the airport for about 20 years before I started operating the lounge. So, I am in a very good position to comment on the state of this airport today. What we are experiencing now was similar to what we used to experience here in the 1980s when this airport was newly opened. Though, there were very few passengers and vehicles coming here then, so, we could understand what the situation was like. The environment was usually clean and free of touts and other miscreants, but suddenly everything collapsed and the whole place got muddled up; miscreants and other undesirable elements found their ways in to the airport. It was an era we heard of ‘bingos’ or what is known as stowaways. It was also an era when luggage and baggage disappeared in the terminals and conveyor belts. They all had their ways in and feasted on the rotten system to the extent that our airport was tagged as one of the worst in the world. Operatives of security agencies attached to the airport were not left out of the misdeed. Then, they lobbied to be transferred or posted to the Lagos airport because of the rot in the system”.
“The source continued, “But suddenly FAAN woke up to its responsibilities and started bringing about changes. They started with setting up taskforces which could not achieve the deserved goals. Gradually, FAAN began to develop institutions and infrastructures which today have produced better results. FAAN introduced measures such as On duty Cards (ODC) to control the number of people who should have access to restricted areas in the airport.
“The management began the expansion of the wings in the terminal and at the same time engaged in the construction of new terminal, car parks; the situation changed for the better. Noting that about 80 per cent of passengers who use the airport come with vehicles of their own and accompanied by other vehicles, FAAN went into concession agreement to construction a multi-level car parks for the passengers while it converted existing one for the use of stakeholders to park their vehicles. This measure and strong implementation of the policies drove many miscreants away from this airport because they no longer have were they can hide to operate. These also affected the operations of the touts who used to hide under the rowdy situation to extort innocent passengers.
“I can tell you today that hardly do you see any vehicle parked illegally in the airport without been towed away and would not be released until a fine of N50, 000 is paid. I don’t think that is a soft penalty by any standard.” We no longer experience armed robbery in the airport. That is another plus for FAAN on the land side. FAAN should be commended for the present state of security within the airport vicinity. Anyone who has contrary opinion is very biased and an unrepentant ingrate.”
For an Osun based fish farmer and regular user of the Lagos airport, Mr segun Oyinola while speaking with our correspondent on his experience in the airport, commended FAAN for a job well-done and urged the management not to relent on its efforts at restoring the past glory of the airport as a pride of Africa.
According to him, “I have been using this airport for many years. It used to be the something every Nigerian was proud of but suddenly all those glamour exuded by the airport disappeared and it became an eyesore. We must be grateful to whoever is behind the new look of this airport today. When I got to the toilet it was well kept; everything looked fresh and smells nicely. I can also give kudos to the management team on the cooling system, everything works perfectly. I believe they would at least maintain the present standard for a very long time to come. Nigeria is Africa’s leader by all standard, we must reflect this in our gateway I believe this is the new orientation coming up here they must keep it up”.
He added, “there is one other thing I noticed, and would like to make mention around the environment of this airport, that is the vehicular traffic situation. I mentioned this because of my past experiences here. The environment, I would say is free of traffic gridlock that used to give travelers using the airport nightmares some years. I remember that there were occasions I spent hours in my car between the toll gate and this terminal. But I could see now that there is free flow of traffic around the airport. When we were driving in, we were directed to the car park where we parked, off load our luggage on trolleys and strolled to the terminal. That took us less than five minutes to accomplished. That was a very nice one too.”
Still on the operations in the airport, Chairman, Airport Car Hire Services Association of Nigeria (ACHAN), Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos, Mr. Francis MacJob commended the management of FAAN on its abilities to address transportation system in the airport. MacJob who said the Managing Director, Engr. Saleh Dunoma and the Airport Manager, Mrs. Victoria Shin Aba deserve special mention with the innovations they bring into the which eventually sanitized and ensured safety, security and comfort of everyone and their belongings, noted that “the measures introduced have remove traffic gridlock, promote safety and security which indirectly has sent every illegal car hire operators, who constituted themselves as agents of insecurity, away from the airport”.
Similarly, the Unit Commander, Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), Murtala Muhammed Airport Unit, Mr. J.J Daniels in a chat with ABTN confirmed that issue of traffic jam in the airport has become a thing of the past. Daniels who said his officers and men no longer have to battle traffic congesting in the airport to ensure free vehicular flow said they are to ensure that traffic does not build up at an point in the airport. He said the new position is attained because of workable policies adopted by FAAN since the Executive Order on the Ease of Doing Business in Nigeria became effective in the airport.
“Though I have just resumed duties here, but from the information I gathered from my colleagues and records at my disposal, vehicular traffic in this airport was a very cumbersome issue in the past. I think with the opening of the multi-level car park coupled with the effective operations of the stakeholders’ car park, sanity has return to motoring in the airport. However we are not resting on our oars; we would keep on monitoring and improving on the situation everyday to forestall the reoccurrence of the past situation. What we are doing in this regard is that we have extended our operations to domestic terminals, MMA2 and MMA1, to ensure free flow of vehicular traffic. You would notice that we always have our officers and men at every strategic location where vehicular traffic hiccups may occur. What they do there is to ensure free and pleasurable motoring around the airport”.
He added, “Some of the new points we have deplored our operatives to are: Airport exit point, around Conoil Petrol Station along Agege Motorway, MMA2, MMA1, FAAN Training School, NAHCO and Hajj Camp Junctions. We have also increased the number of our personnel deplored to the roundabout opposite Forte Oil Station on the road between Ikeja and domestic terminal. All these are done in conjunction with patrol teams which equally monitor the flow of vehicles along the road to ensure compliance with traffic rules”.
Daniels who however regretted that he has to battle the problem of gridlock created in the airport by motorists heading to Ikeja especially during closing hours, lamented that if half of the security personnel and traffic managers deplored to Ikeja Roundabout are diligent enough, there wouldn’t be any reason for traffic hitch along the axis.
“The only place we have challenges, is the spot under the bridge in Ikeja, The spot is outside the control of this unit and outside the jurisdiction of the Airport Police Command, yet anything that affects free flow of traffic there has a very strong negative effect on free flow of traffic in the airport. Traffic control there is automated never the less there human beings on the spot who could either reset the light on control the traffic manually to give priority to direction of higher flow, he suggested.
On the airside, the recent evacuation of abandoned or unserviceable aircraft from the apron of the Lagos airport, has opened up for use areas that were hitherto not available for use because they were occupied with those abandoned aircraft. Speaking on the development to make more space available for more aircraft, FAAN, Director of Airport Operations, Capt Rabiu Yadudu explained that unusable apron space would be enhanced with the evacuation of the abandoned aircraft.
Yadudu also added that bush clearing on airside and landside of the airport has become a culture. He observed that the exercise, apart from adding to the aesthetic look the airport, it would also enhance security around apron since there would be no hidden place for any criminals.
In particular, he mentioned that FAAN would soon convert the abandoned Pilot Lounge to VIP lounge for the comfort of both VIP passengers and their crews.
Many stakeholders believed that FAAN deserves the commendations for living up to security challenges in the airport. Apart from installing many screening machines at every entry point in the airport, the respondents argued that FAAN has deployed more Close Circuit Television (CCTV) cameras on the air side of the airport particularly, along the R 18 runway.
Reliable source at FAAN also informed that the management of FAAN is working with other airports around the world on security information sharing; just as it has perfected a plan to install a mobile radar surveillance and infrared camera with built in movement automated sensors. The new equipment would on detecting any object along its course, direct all other cameras to focus towards on the area of the airside. The new camera, ABTN learnt has the capacity to comb the entire runway and airside within five seconds; moving at 360 degree. What this means is that, nobody on the airside, no matter how fast he or she may be, would not escape being caught on the camera’s radar. Meanwhile as the installation of the equipment is underway, the security committee of the airport has activated joint security patrol teams which comprise of security operatives from Nigeria Police and FAAN Aviation Security (AVSEC) to patrol, monitor and carry out surveillance on the airside. Ten newly procured airside patrol vehicles have been deployed for the purpose. In the same vein, the land side of the airport is not left without regular patrols and surveillance by both plain clothes and uniformed security personnel drawn from Nigeria Police, Nigerian Air Force, Directorate of Security Services (DSS), FAAN Aviation Security (AVSEC), Nigeria Customs Services (NCS), Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS), Nigeria Security and Civil Defense Services (NSCDS) among others.
“When some people talk about state of security in the airport, I always laugh at them because I see them speaking out of ignorance. Because they are outsiders they have lost touch with new innovations and development put in place not only here, but in all the 22 airports under FAAN. That you don’t see people harassing anyone in the airport does not mean there are no security apparatuses in place. I can assure you that the moment nobody gets to Hajj Camp or the Domestic Police Station area of the airport, the person is captured on CCTV cameras. Every movement made within and around the airport is under surveillance; immediately any strange movement is discovered, the nearest security operative or patrol team is alerted and instructed on what to do without the knowledge of the suspect. Before he or she realizes what is happening he or she is surrounded by a number of security men who would effect the arrest. All these are products of the trainings we have undergone locally and internationally. Because no matter how sophisticated a security equipment is, it must be operated by equally well trained human beings to get the best result,” said a security operative who does not want identities disclosed.
When contacted on the state of security at Murtala Muhammed Airport, Lagos and the number of arrests, prosecutions and convictions secured in the last six months, The Police Public Relation Officer At Airport Command, Nigeria Police Force, Mr. Joseph Alabi, a Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP), said there has been a drastic reduction in the number of suspected criminals arrested, prosecuted and convicted in the Lagos airport in the last six months, compare to what obtained in the same period in the previous year.
Alabi claimed that this as so because the security measures put in place in the airport have kept criminals away from the airport environment. They are aware and sure that they would be arrested, prosecuted and jailed if they attempted to come in.
“There is a drastic reduction n the arrested, prosecution and conviction of criminals including touts who used to carry out their illegal businesses in the airport environment. When compared to what obtained in the same period last year, there is a great difference. We are happy about that. This is because security measures put in place are yielding positive results. It is however impossible for us to just go out, arrest and charge innocent people doing their legitimate business in the airport, to court because we want to increase the number of convicts. Criminals are sensitive human beings; they know where their operations could flourish without getting into troubles. Since they don’t want to be caught in their criminal acts, they run away from where they suspected that their operations would fail. And that is the situation in Lagos airport today,” Alabi said.
