Air Travellers Condemn N2000 Fee Imposed on Vehicles Owners at Arrival

By Chinedu Eze

Air travellers have condemned the N2000 fee imposed by the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) on every vehicle picking passengers from arrivals at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Lagos.

Vehicle owners who come to pick up passengers at arrivals are charged N2000 before they could access the arrival gate.

The passengers who spoke to THISDAY described the fee as outrageous and noted that it is only at Nigerian airports that travellers leaving the airport are made to pay in order to be conveyed out of the airport.

Some of them told THISDAY that travellers are already paying too many taxes and charges, noting that these payments are higher than what obtains in other airports across the world.

“The major issue for me is that the airports don’t look like where so much money is collected from the passengers. They are largely deplorable and everywhere you go airport workers are begging you money. I believe that the management of the airport overlooks that begging part and that is why it has persisted.

“You come into the airport all these security people will be harassing you. They ask you to open your bags in the wrong place because at that place they are at the entrance they can’t be asking you to open your bags. They force first time travellers to part with money. In fact, everything about our airport is hostility everywhere.

“Last time I travelled, my wife came to pick me they stopped her immediately she entered the arrival area and asked her to pay N500. That was just last month. Today, they stopped her again and asked her to pay 2000. I saw the notice on the wall that they have increased it to N2000. It is the airport management that makes people believe that travelling by air is luxury because you have used these payments to prevent ordinary people from traveling by air,” the passenger told THISDAY.

However, the Director of Public Affairs and Consumer Protection, FAAN, Mrs. Obiageli Orah, told THISDAY that the charge was introduced to make motorists use the multi-story car park, but anyone who drives straight to arrival would be charged N2000.