The Federal Government has threatened to sanction all military and paramilitary heads at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Lagos over persistent extortion of air travellers and bribery.
Speaking at the international wing of the Lagos airport, during the training powered by the Presidential Enabling Business Environment Council (PEBEC) and FAAN, Dr. Olajumoke Oduwole, the Presidential Adviser on Ease-of-Doing-Business, expressed sadness over the poor image of Nigeria outside the country.
Oduwole bemoaned the conducts of most of the officers at the airport and threatened that the government would not hesitate to sanction any officers who is found wanting.
She implored the senior officers of each security agencies at the airport to monitor the conducts of the rank and file in the system who she said continued to seek for bribe from travellers, including foreigners who were visiting the country for the first time.
“This Lagos Airport is a national disgrace. Some of you could not look at me in the face when the videos were being played. It is either you are a part of the rots or you allow the rots to continue. The people in this room today are responsible for the disgraceful act we have been recording at this airport.
“I have travelled through this airport at various times and I can tell you that this airport is like a zoo. In fact, a market place is better than this place. We are all responsible because we are the leaders. I don’t even want to talk about Europe, let us look at the various African countries, their airports may be small, but the people there act like human beings.
“Why are we like this here? Any officer that can’t control his file and rank will definitely be charged because that is what the head at the Villa (Presidential Villa) is committed to. I can’t say there are no challenges here, but it’s all about personal values and pride. We will all look ourselves in the eyes. We are living like animals in this airport from the toilet to the way we treat people,” she said.
Oduwole commended the National Assembly for initiating the bill that would lead to the centralisation of security screening checkpoints at the nation’s airports, saying this would go a long way in solving the present bottlenecks.
She insisted that without a good structure, the Ease-Of-Doing-Business policy of the Federal Government would be defeated.
