Minister Backs War against Touting, Extortion at Airports

*Promises transparent concession process

Chinedu Eze

The Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo, has reiterated his full support for the war against touting and extortion at Nigeria’s airports, promising maximum punishment for anyone caught in the act.
Keyamo, who assured that President Bola Tinubu-led administration would concession the major airport in a very transparent and efficient manner, made this known during the tour of new facilities installed at the E-Wing of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Lagos, yesterday.

The minister while examining the new, state-of-the-art conveniences and electronic billboard warned against touts and extortion, saying the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) has done so well and needed to be commended.
He eulogised the message on the billboard, which warned against touts and extortion with accompanying directives on how passengers who are harassed can notify the FAAN management.

Keyamo, therefore, urged travellers to report any infraction that borders on attempts to extort them by security operatives and others who work at the airport.
While commending work done at the airport, the minister said greater infrastructure transformation was in the offing in order to elevate Nigerian airports to compete with the best internationally.
“Now, our first step in addressing this (extortion) issue is what you have seen here (on the billboard). So for Nigerians, please look at this. When you come into the E-Wing of the international airport in Lagos, you are going to see a sign discouraging touting, extortion and general harassment of passengers coming into Nigeria.

“There is a QR code. You must make use of it. Don’t go to the media and complain that there is nobody to speak to when you are harassed by law enforcement agencies. Use the QR code, use the hotlines and make a call there and then. Don’t say, oh, there was nobody, they dragged you to one corner and they took money from you. Make that call.
“Pick your phone and make that call and you will be attended to. We also encourage people to be courteous, to be respectful, and to also to obey the law enforcement agencies at the borders. But at the same time, we have also taken measures to ensure that we put a leash around our own law enforcement agencies,” he said.

Keyamo also assured travellers that harassment and extortion by security operatives will severely be punished if caught in the obnoxious act of extortion and harassment of travellers or other authorised airport users, adding that as long as they work at the airport they are under the authority of FAAN, which they should consider as their landlords.

“We are the landlord; they are not under our employ. We are not their bosses, but we are their landlords. You saw the last time when there was an incident here on tape, we threw that particular personnel out of the airport. So FAAN has the authority to throw out any personnel from any agency at the airport who is actually crossing the line. We can throw the person out. Whether it is Customs, NDLEA (Nigerian Drug Law Enforcement  Agency) or anybody for that matter. And that is why the other person who was caught on tape the other time, we can see that he was thrown out of the airport. So please, these are the steps we are taking for now. We are only asking for inter-agency cooperation, inter-ministerial cooperation to make this work,” he said.

The minister said that the new administration of FAAN had taken public private partnership (PPP) a notch higher, noting that the private sector is invited to participate fully in airport development in Nigeria.

“This is not our big plan for the airport. The big plan for the airport, especially the five international airports, is still to concession them to be best in the world. We are looking for the best partners in the world to come and collaborate with us in turning the airport around and running them professionally. And all will be to the benefit, ultimate benefit of Nigerians.

“So, what you see there, what we have just come to do here, is to ensure that in the short term, in the interim, that the customers and the traveling public will have a wonderful experience. And in doing all of these small touches here and there, you can see that the new management has taken care of issues like even disability, those traveling with disabilities. They were not there before the lifts are working now.”

The minister said that the execution of the concession plan must be carried transparently and very soon the process would start.

“We are going public very soon and it is going to be the best. I spoke to Mr. President about it. Mr. President said, minister, go for the best. Nobody is interested in whoever is coming to do it. The process that was done before, maybe you asked that there was a process before we came into office. We halted that process because there were complaints. I am sure you know that. There were litigations. People went to court. It was not transparent enough. But under this government, under Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s government, it is going to be as transparent as possible. The President gave us marching orders. Go and do it as transparently as possible. Look for the best bid, the best hand to come and turn around our efforts and run our airports. And that is where we are going ultimately,” he said.

The Managing Director of FAAN, Mrs. Olubunmi Kuku, threw more light on the envisaged PPP, saying that the agency would create a business climate that would endear those who would want to come and partner the agency.

“I continue to say that the investments we need to improve the facilities and the infrastructure in the aviation sector cannot only come in from the federal government. We have major plans in terms of the infrastructure development that is required. In terms of bringing in additional private sector participation. And we are exploring various partnership models that would allow us to be able to move forward very quickly.

“The Honourable Minister over the last few weeks has been engaging with the private sector as well as other government institutions globally to make sure that we can better collaborate. Especially around new terminal development, where it comes to increasing our routes so there is some work around route development,” Kuku said.