Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA) and other international airports across the country are beginning to have the true ambiance and attraction which are required of a standard international airport as a result of the implementation of the executive order as directed by Yemi Osinbajo, the acting President of Nigeria.
It will be recalled that few months ago, the executive order was issued to enhance the ease of doing business. As a result, the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) swung into action and put in place measures to ensure compliance.
These developments are coming at a time when FAAN recently bagged the award as the Most Improved and Innovative Government Agency (Aviation Sector) from the Pan African International Recognition Award.
A visit by BusinessDay to MMIA last week showed that FAAN has stepped up on timely issuance of visa on arrival. The policy seems to be working the talk. Before now, investors and businessmen who struggled to get into the country because it took months to get their visas now tell a different story since the executive order kicked off.
“I believe the acting president did not want businessmen coming into the country to have to go through stress before they are given visa so he gave the relevant authorities matching orders and FAAN had to swing into action.
“So now, once businessmen come into the country, as soon they access the immigration, they will see the visa on arrival cubicle. All they need to do is to go in there and provide the needed documents and within some minutes, they are issued their visas,” an investor told BusinessDay at the airport.
In addition to this, FAAN has directed that “There shall be no touting whatsoever by official or unofficial persons at any airport in Nigeria”
The authority confirmed that it has been able to get rid of almost 90percent of touts that roam about the airport. BusinessDay’s findings show that the legal department of FAAN has moved a motion that once any tout is caught roaming at the airport, he will be charged to court immediately.
“We don’t want a situation when we take these touts to the police and somehow they will find their way back to the airport. So once they are charged to court, they know that they already have a case and they will not be able to wonder back.
“Right now, the Aviation Security Service (AVSEC) will not allow just anyone in, it is either you are a staff of FAAN or any public agencies before you are allowed to gain access into the terminal. Now the overcrowding and what our airports have been known for in the past are no longer there today,” Henrietta Yakubu, FAAN’s Acting General Manager, told BusinessDay.
Yakubu said that non-passengers and unofficial staff are not allowed access to restricted areas adding that any official caught soliciting or receiving bribe from passengers or other airport users shall be subject to immediate removal from post and disciplinary as well as criminal proceedings in line with extant laws and regulations.
While clarifying the leakages at the Lagos airport, the acting general manager noted that the authority was replacing ceiling boards and because of the gaps that were created, it was leaking at that time but has all been fixed now. She noted that right now, FAAN is working on its conveyor belts and doing a total replacement from the baggage halls to the arrivals so that passengers can have seamless experience in the airports.
BusinessDay’s findings also show that the escalator that has been out of use for so many years at the Lagos international airport has begun to work again. There are also relamping activities going on currently to ensure there are no dark portions at the airports.
On the Chinese terminals, Yakubu assured that by the end of this year, the terminal should be completed. She disclosed that the authority is working on its multi-level car park just before the Chinese terminal in Lagos and assured that on the 8th of August, there will be a test run of the facility.
Speaking on the authority’s activities to ensure security at the airports, she said that “All the interfaces has been brought and collapsed into one interface. As soon as you get into the public concourse, you pass through the screening machine, if you look to your right, you will see a cubicle, the FAAN AVSEC and all the other agencies are there and they all have monitors in front of them.
“When FAAN security sees any luggage that is coming through the screening machine and he suspects it, he will call the attention of any of the agencies that need to check and they will check the baggage.”
Yakubu assured that FAAN has worked on chillers at the airports and bought standing air conditioners to complement the chillers, thereby making the entire terminal cooling to improve considerably.
Passengers who recently visited the airport are excited about the various flight information display systems mounted at strategic areas of the airport.
“As a passenger that is traveling, at every 10 or 15 meters walk, there is a flight information display system for the passenger to check the progress of the flight. We are also doing complete replacement of toilets,” Yakubu confirmed.
She noted that these developments in Lagos are also being replicated in Abuja, Port Harcourt, Kano and Enugu international airports and assured that the Chinese terminal in Port Harcourt may even be ready before other terminals.
Ifeoma Okeke
