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Poor logistics ground activities at Lagos Airport

By on May 24, 2014

Passengers who travel to international destinations through the Murtala Muhammed Airport, Lagos are subjected to a lot of inconveniences due to inadequate logistics to move them from the car park to the terminal.

They are exposed to security breaches as people who are not supposed to travel like workers of bureau de change are allowed to board the buses meant to convey passengers to the departure terminal, soliciting for customers to change money with them.

The federal government planned to build multi-storeyed  car park at the airport and in the interim had built a temporary car park about 1000 meters away from the terminal where buses are deployed to convey those who are meant to travel to the terminal.

But since this service kicked off few weeks ago passengers have been suffering a lot of inconveniences due to poor planning and are exposed to security threats as the chaotic situation interferes with the security apparatus that are meant to protect the passengers till they board their flights.

Also there is a new security system which aims to restrict the movement of vehicles to stop traffic congestion at the departures and arrival roads in front of the terminal and also end loitering at the airport in the face of the high terror threat in the country.

THISDAY investigation revealed that the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) is not deploying the buses meant to pick the passengers from the car park to the drop off zone near the terminal so there are a lot of delays in moving the passengers to the terminal.

“Most of the time only two of the buses are working while others are parked, so nobody is controlling the deployment. Drivers seem not to be reporting to anybody so they do what they like. They are not responding to the urgency of the situation,” an airport official told THISDAY.

Another official pointed out the danger in allowing the workers of bureau de change, popularly called mallams to mixi with the passengers because of the potential security implications, as they could carry dangerous and prohibited items along with them and cause unquantifiable harm to the passengers and other airport users.

“FAAN should deploy people to the drop off zone to make sure that it is only those who are meant to travel that board the buses. We have noticed that the number of people that board the buses are always more than the capacity of the bus because passengers are not sure when another bus will come and pick them,” another official said.

Those who spoke to THISDAY also urged the joint security operatives working to ensure the implementation of the new security programme at the airport to allow passengers to be picked up and also to be dropped but ensure that vehicles are not allowed to wait even for few seconds.

“Vehicles can only drop off but are not allowed to pick passengers . This is creating more challenges because people who have plenty of luggages cannot instruct their own cars to pick them, yet they cannot board the buses due to the crowd, so the situation is totally inconveniencing,” an airport user said.

There is also chaos at the exit road that runs off the side of the terminal because of the sudden movement of commercial vehicles and inadequate accommodation of those who do business at the airport and paucity of parking areas.

FAAN is being called upon to take urgent action and alleviate the suffering of the passengers.

 

 

[This Day]