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Foreigners who visit Nigeria have misconception about the country because of the nefarious activities of security operatives who engage in extortion or solicit for money from passengers at the airports. This act has fundamentally damaged the image of Nigeria in international circles, writes Chinedu Eze

The video has gone viral of a Swiss Nigerian woman popularly known as Nwanyiocha who narrated her experience travelling from the Akanu Ibiam International Airport, Enugu to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

In the video, Nwanyiocha narrated how her passport was checked 10 times by security operatives at Enugu airport who solicited for money from her. According to her, the security operatives become unnecessarily strict each time passengers refuse to give them money.

She compared her Nigerian experience to what she witnessed in Ethiopia. She said that on arrival she was respectively and professionally attended to and the same professionalism was exhibited when she left back to Nigeria. She said that her passport was checked only two times, compared to over 10 times her passport was checked at the Enugu airport.

While comparing the way she was treated at Enugu airport to the way she was treated at Bole Airport, Addis Ababa, she described the both scenarios as night and day.

“In Enugu I had to show my papers at least 10 times before I was allowed to sit somewhere. In Addis, I showed my passport twice and that was it. In Addis Ababa, nobody asked me to do Sunday for them or Monday or Tuesday or Wednesday or buy them water or anything. They take your documents with thanks and show you where next you will go.

“In Nigeria before you are allowed to sit down you are already exhausted. You feel intimidated. Whatever they are going to ask you, you have to be polite, you have to keep quiet. It is very stressful,” she narrated.

She said that if Nigeria wants to promote tourism, if the country wants to bring in investors, “entry and exit should not be a big deal. It should be made as comfortable as possible. People will tell their friends that travelling to Nigeria is easy. But with this experience, it is not a good thing. The Immigration, the airport is what you see first on arrival. It is not good experience. And it is not an African thing because in Ethiopia people are polite, they help you; they don’t beg you for money and they don’t waste your time. And if their argument is that they are not paid very well, government should own up. You cannot have airport staff being beggars, asking people for money; when they are just there to work and provide a service. There is difference between being polite and wasting somebody’s time.”

Taskforce against Touts

Nwanyiocha’s video coincided with a statement issued by the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) on plans to eradicate touts and also to monitor airport workers who solicit or extort passengers. 

The Managing Director of FAAN, Mrs. Olubunmi Kuku, announced that the agency has taken a decisive step towards eliminating touting, extortion, and illicit activities at the airports by establishing a dedicated task force to monitor activities at the airports managed by the agency. 

Reacting to reports of illicit activities going on at various airports, Kuku expressed her deep concern over the ongoing harassment and extortion of passengers at the airports, emphasising her commitment to creating a seamless and pleasant experience for travelers and as a result, her administration has launched an extensive campaign to crack down on these illegal activities. 

Kuku warned all airport personnel, including FAAN staff to desist from such nefarious activities, threatening that anyone who negated the regulations would face strict disciplinary actions.

 She stressed that the era of business as usual was over and highlighted the administration’s zero-tolerance policy towards misconduct.

Furthermore, Mrs. Kuku announced plans to establish magistrate courts at international airports to expedite the legal process for prosecuting offenders. The task force has been mandated to enforce discipline among airport staff and maintain a culture of professionalism at all levels. 

In addition, she said dedicated phone lines and QR codes would be set up to provide passengers with a means of providing feedback on their airport experience. Furthermore, Mrs. Kuku emphasized that all airport personnel must prominently display their on-duty cards and name tags for easy identification and accountability.

Old Tradition

It was learnt that Nigerian airports, especially the major gateway, Lagos, has become notorious because of the illicit activities of security operatives, which include Aviation Security (AVSEC) of FAAN, the Nigeria Immigration Service, the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), the Quarantine service, Nigerian Customs and others. There are also Port Health officials who engage in their own racket, including the cleaners who are used as outlets by Port Health to illegally sell yellow card to passengers.

Harassing passengers, intimidating them in order to extort them and engaging in physical search of luggage at the entrance of the terminal are part of ways the passenger is ripped off. Inexperienced passengers are intimidated with phony allegations and stopped from travelling until they pay money and they usually insist on dollars, THISDAY has learnt.

There have been efforts made at various times to eradicate extortion but it failed because, according to insider sources, security operatives bribe their seniors to post them to the airport, which is literally a gold mine. FAAN is also in a quandary because it has no power to control the security agencies like Customs, Immigration, NDLEA, Quarantine; informed source told THISDAY.

About two years ago the then Managing Director of FAAN, Capt. Rabiu Yadudu announced new measures and regulations geared towards reducing extortion of travellers by officials to its barest minimum at Nigerian airports.

Yadudu said such regulations would go a long way in improving security and the integrity of the country’s airports, as well as Nigeria’s reliability in the comity of nations. He said the first impression about a country is made at the airport and Nigeria must put her better foot forward in this regard. 

He reiterated that regular flyers and airport visitors to Nigeria had not so palatable tales about the disgraceful conduct of officials and workers at the airports in terms of extortion. Regrettably, it has also been observed that some security operatives in and out of uniform were part of the scourge. 

FAAN management then was responding to an outcry over the illegal and disgraceful conducts of some of these airport officials who usually throw caution in the air while making travellers part with their hard earned monies, under various guises.

The decision of Yadudu was prompted by the reaction of an American lady, Alina Oliver who took to the Internet to describe her experience with airport officials at the Muritala Mohammed International Airport, Lagos. She detailed how officials at the MMIA, Ikeja “Traumatised and made her cry” over her COVID 19 tests requirements. She also said some unprintable things in the three episodes posts.

Physical Interface

In one of the quarterly meetings of Aviation Round Table (ART), in 2022, the think-tank body issued a communique lamenting that passengers were being exploited and suggested a multi-layered security system, which does not necessarily mean physical structure but technologically driven security coverage that would minimise physical interface between passengers and security operatives

ART also stated that there was an urgent need for provision of more funding for security at the nation’s airports to enable acquisition and deployment of state-of-the-art security equipment and that there was also the need to reduce the number of physical security checking points at the nation’s airports to enhance passenger facilitation and avoid discouragement of travel by air with unnecessary delays at the airports.

In 2017, the Federal Government Executive Order on the Ease of Doing Business in Nigeria was launched at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos by the then Vice President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo, which removed manual baggage checking counters and replaced it with one harmonized screening machine at the airport departure hall. This eased the long queues at the check-in-counters of the airlines but with time the security operatives ganged up and arranged another physical interface with passengers besides the x-ray machine at the entrance to departures.

Seasoned airport security specialists are of the view that any security system that accepts bribery or extorts money from passengers or any other airport user is compromised because the system is already eroded and rendered porous.

Experts’ Views

Many industry stakeholders have frowned on the nefarious activities of security operatives at the nation’s airports.

Chairman/CEO of Omni Blu Aviation (OBA) Limited and former Director General of Nigerian Safety Investigation Bureau (NSIB), Akin Olateru, advised that government should seriously look into this issue and noted that even Nigerians passing through the airports are also embarrassed by the actions of some airport personnel

“I honestly wish we could do something about this. It is the same experience in all our international airports. Even we Nigerians are frustrated about it. Leaving or arriving Nigeria for Nigerians is always stressful. Immigration asking for telephone number, address, flight number, etc. on arrival for Nigerians is absolutely rubbish. Showing your travelling documents more than 10 times on departure is nonsense,” Olateru said. 

He suggested that FAAN and the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), in conjunction with the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO), should please organise training on ICAO ANNEXE 9 (facilitation) for all airport workers, as Nigeria is a signatory to this protocol. 

“From the time you arrive at the airport till when you sit on the plane shouldn’t be more than 30 minutes. This is what all ICAO member states signed for in Annexe 9. On arrival, from the time you step out of the plane to when you get to your car with your luggage, it shouldn’t be more than 45 minutes. The action plan is that we must audit all our processes and simplify them. This is the only way we can reduce corruption. FAAN, NCAA, NSIB and all other relevant agencies should audit all their processes and simply them,” Olateru further said.

He also observed that there is no country in the world where you have multilayered checks as it is in Nigeria, emphasizing that such multilayered process encourages corruption.

“I have been to all the countries and I have never seen all the cumbersome checks as we have in Nigeria. We definitely need to do something about this because multiple checks breed corruption. Such multiple checks are against ICAO regulation. We need to sanitize our airports,” he advised.

Minister’s Assurance

Nwanyiocha’s comment on her experience seems to be a wakeup call to once again make efforts at eradicating the menace of extortion and begging at Nigeria’s airports.

The Minister of Aviation and Aerospace development, Festus Keyamo, in reponse to the viral video said: “I have received several complaints about the menace of begging and extortion at our International airports by a few unscrupulous persons who give all of us a bad image. My phones are beeping every minute with messages about this from well-meaning Nigerians. 

“Just to set the records straight, most of the agencies involved in this menace are not under the control of the Aviation Ministry, though they are stationed at our airports. However, I have been working closely with other Ministers, arms of government and agencies who are responsible for these agencies and a solution is in sight soon. We are all working under the coordination of the National Security Adviser who called a meeting a few days ago on this issue and we shall soon unveil practical steps being taken to stem this ugly tide. We thank Nigerians for their eternal vigilance on this issue.”

Hopefully, this time Nigeria will get it right. The multiple checks at the airports promote physical interface and cause delays and the shameless way some officials solicit for money from travellers remain unnerving and embarrassing.