MMIA is a nightmare As much as I hate posting negative things about my beloved country, my encounter at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA) has compelled me to give a succinct account of my experience. You’ll agree with me that airport is an essential part of a country’s perception. I uphold the belief that if a country cannot manage its main airport, it cannot manage anything else. How much is required to make the atmosphere of our busiest airport very comfortable? Sadly, money is not the reason why MMIA runs like an oven. I have always maintained that even with all the money in the world, our country will not work as long as our attitudes remain the same. A positive attitude is all we need. Recently, the media is awashed with the airport remodelling news. I was almost buying into that by having little sympathy for the former BMW engulfed Minister before I realized it was just a propaganda; a business as usual thing. I understand the woman took a loan of about N200 billion for the remodelling project. Billions of Naira buried and wasted. Rather, shared and pocketed by some quite few milking dry our collective national treasury. No doubt, there was a sign of ongoing ‘renovation’. However, when you juxtapose the budgeted amount of money and the height of the media jingles/campaign on one side with what is on ground on the other side, it is abundantly clear that the remodelling is nothing short of a ruse. If you have not seen other countries international airports, don’t disagree or claim you have a contrary opinion. Nothing has really changed. The approach is still looking poor; dirty, dusty with no beautification of any sort. “Was that not because of the ongoing remodelling?” The Jonathanians/Stella fans might query. At the entrance, the presence of heavily ‘armed’ security personnel brandishing rickety and rusty guns was unconventional and uncalled for. At the very best, they were only obstructing passengers’ movement. “Isn’t that attributed to the current insecurity?” You might want to say. Well, the Boko Boys have grown passed such unyielding display. I’ve always suggested that actionable intelligence gathering is the key to crushing them. The entrance greeted one with a temperature whose degree could only be compared to that coming out of an oven. There was electricity (PHCN or Generator) but the air-conditioning systems were not just working. Despite the billions, the Lagos airport is about the hottest in the world. I nearly suffocated as a result of terrible heat in an unventilated hall filled almost to its brim. The presence of officials and security personnel choking the hall, duplicating efforts and thereby constituting nuisance remains a source of worry. I remember missing my flight once not because there was not enough time before the scheduled flight. But because bottlenecks have been created to make me need touts to do what I’d do within minutes elsewhere in the world. I tell you, MMIA is really a nightmare! As a passenger in MMIA, you’ll encounter more than a dozen ‘check points’ with similar objective of ‘extortion and bribe collection’. The police, immigration, NDLEA, SSS, custom, the airport officials and even touts were all checking our travel papers/baggage and unrepentantly and shamelessly demanding bribe in the glare of every one. Foreigners were also not left out. I was shocked that most of the foreigners were already used to it. They considered it a norm and forgot that both bribe givers and takers are all equally guilty. I witnessed one that got me furious. The oyinbo man ‘tipped’ the officials with an amount they felt was ‘small’. He cheerfully told them to ‘manage’ it until whenever he returns from his trip. Wetin eye no go see! Airport officials managing bribe. An official I suspected was one of the airport staff checked my bag and discovered a liquid substance. In her attempt to swindle me, she argued I won’t be allowed to travel with the liquid unless I was willing to ‘do happy Sunday’ for her. I sought to know which of the aviation rules has it that I couldn’t possibly travel with locally processed honey. She quickly realized I knew the rules and thus a ‘hard nut to crack’. “Just go”. She retorted. The officer next to her didn’t observe my resoluteness not to be extorted even to a single kobo. He checked my bags and courageously but shamelessly said: “Your money na N2,000”. “Iwo ntaja ni yayin ni?” I did say in my typical Ilorin dialect (meaning: are you here to sell goods?). “I no know say u don open market for here”. I continued. He flung my bags as he instructed I should meet the next man. The next man was a police officer who wanted me to taste the honey to be sure I wasn’t carrying a poisonous substance. I tasted it and laughed at his ‘method’ of detecting harmful substance. The funny police officer questioned: “the honey is from which state?”. I ignored him as I couldn’t help laughing out loud. Before I got my boarding pass, I interfaced with about five different officials (different from the security personnel) doing the same thing of checking passports and travel tickets. This is clearly uncalled for and a share waste of time. I was ‘stubborn’ and determined not to give a dime. I was issued with my boarding pass and asked to proceed to Gate E63. Looking through my passport, an immigration officer rightly guessed I am from Ilorin. “Alhaji, Alhaji Musa. My Alhaji from Ilorin”. “I stayed in Ilorin for years”, he continued. “Oya, give me Ilorin thing for my lunch”. I collected my passport and quietly worked away as I greeted him the Ilorin way: “enle fa”. After all, all he wanted for lunch was an ‘Ilorin something’. Other set of officials scanned my body and hand luggage but sought to know why University of Ilorin admission is skewed to favour only the Ilorin before they could allow me proceed. I quickly disabused their minds and cleared the misconception reminding them that Unilorin is the most sought after university in Nigeria, hence the most competitive at the moment. I had to also explain the admission process taking them through merit, catchment area and Educationally Disadvantaged States (EDS) structure. I must have captivated the attention of one of the beautifully dressed female officers who I overheard saying: “He’s a smart young lecturer”. I was thinking I have been able to ‘bribe’ my way through with my oratory prowess. Surprisingly, they still asked me to find something for them. My response was that academics only have books to throw around. At that point, I couldn’t help but imagined how much I would have parted with if I chose to give in to all those bribery demands of our airport men and women. The obvious question is whether we need Mr President/Minister to let these guys do their work and realise it’s a criminal offence to demand and take bribe. They simply need to change positively. The MMIA stinks! Even the young cleaner who volunteered to show me where the ‘Surau’ prayer room was located never did that for ‘free’. He wanted me to shower him with ‘Sunday lunch thing’. From the speaker to the sweeper, the men hired to clean the toilets were also not left out of the mess. Bribe demand and other frustrating antics have apparently turned to a norm in the MMIA. Few distinguished guys, however, dare to be different. They were patriotic and strictly doing their jobs. They were seriously minded and refused to join the bad eggs or be consumed by the shameful national image denting attitude of the others. I salute their being disciplined and commend their patriotism. I encourage them to keep that up and not to be cowed down as I challenge them to expose the ‘moles’. I finally found myself at the Gate E63. That area was nothing short of an ‘oven’. It was hell. People were sweating profusely and the newspapers turned hand fans couldn’t help the situation. The passengers were all lamenting and were quick at blaming the Government for its obvious failure. However, no one was condemning the negative attitude of the officials. As if the Government hasn’t done enough to offer the officials the prestigious jobs for good earnings going by the Nigeria standard. Let me use this medium to call on the National Assembly and other relevant bodies to initiate an immediate and sincere probe into the remodelling scam spearheaded by the former Minister, Stella Odua. I must also encourage all of us to rise and speak against the despicable and contemptible acts of the airport officials. MMIA is a nightmare! Ironically, not even the terrible experience at the MMIA could stop me from missing my country, Nigeria. Abdulwaheed MUSA is the founder of Positive Attitudinal Change (PAC) Initiative
Posted on: Thu, 29 May 2014 13:34:18 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015