The  managing director of Total Aviation Services, Mr. John Ughulu has decried  the poor management of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos by the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria, FAAN, describing the management of the airport as very poor.

Ughulu said that the management of FAAN has not done well managing the airport, stressing that” ‎when you have a system that has been on for many years and is not working, it shows that it is either the system or management is bad.‎”

Speaking with aviation journalists during an interview in Lagos, Mr. Ughulu stated that ‎lifting the face of the airport to global standard, will also means lifting of the face of the management of FAAN.  

He added that management trainings ought to be done for the staff of the Authority.

Ughulu maintained that ‎the management system FAAN is  applying at the airport  is poor and not working.

 If a system has been on for 16 years and it is not giving the set result, that system has to be changed. You don’t want that system, it has to be changed.  You have a system that has been on for many years and not working, it shows that it is either the system or management is bad, Total Aviation Services boss noted.  

He observed that the touting level at the airport is a big shame.

 Ughulu lamented that  people at MMIA and even cleaners that are paid to clean the airport end up becoming illegal protocol officers, sales agents or clearing officers. 

“If you look at that you would want to imagine the kind of image we are creating.  This is a management problem. I am not saying the managing director of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) should come and stay by the door of the airport and identify those coming  into the airport as alms seekers or illegal traders, but he has that obligation to delegate responsible people that would monitor these people and bring their activities to zero tolerance level”, he said.

 The  managing director of Total Aviation Services stated  that it is so unfortunate that the country is still crawling when it comes to managing the airport, adding that the system being applied to the kind of airport we have, is not good enough.

According to him, “If you take for instance, the crowd control system, the airport is becoming  choked because we have a lot of people loitering around in the airport. I would say for instance the number of people you have in the airport that have genuine reasons to be in the airport is quite low compared to number of people you have here that are jobless, that have no business in the airport what so ever. Of course airport is free to assess, I don’t have anything against that, you have the right to visit the airport for sightseeing  or tourism, you have the right to visit the airport to meet bid you family members goodby when they are travelling or arriving.‎ But when you come to the airport aimlessly, without purpose, I think it is high time the government should put it as a criminal offence. If you  go to the car park coming to the terminal, out of the five persons you found there coming to the airport, three of them are not staff, passengers  or people who have come to wish their families goodbye, they are just here either to come and beg for alms, or to look for ways to generate daily incoming illegally.  I think there is a need to start from that door. Start from the least problems. When you want to solve a problem, don’t start from the most difficult, you have to start from the least. This would allow you to take one step after the other.”

‎Ughulu stated further that taxi or cab issues have become a big problem as the airport has all manners of touting drivers operating illegal cab services . 

He lamented that  the car hire system at the airport  is very porous and poor, adding that FAAN is under-generating funds from there, because it is not well coordinated.

“If you look at the structure inside the airport terminal, where you have the concessionaires, half of what you have in the departure hall are not supposed to be there. This place can actually be redesigned, for a better usage. Go to any departure hall of airports such as Heathrow, JFK, Schipol or Changi, we can emulate, what you have in the departure halls is services. Services rendered to departing passengers. That is why it is called departure hall.  But here what you find are people selling soft drinks, foods bread and all sorts of things. In the first instance, for the purpose of health and safety,  it is not safe to have burners, grilling machines among others in the departure hall. Is it all because we want to generate more fund? I believe ,and i know there are better ways to generate revenue if the airport is well managed.  With the present system in place, FAAN is under-generating revenue. It is not maximising it. Choking a place does not mean you are making more money. The inconvenience you create is more that the fund you generate. If you travel anywhere, when you see first class or business passengers you would see the way they have assess to the airport. We don’t have similar thing in place here.  You lump everybody together on the same queue going through the same scanning machine and everything is choked”, he said.

Ughulu frowned at the traffic endemic  state of airport road, noting that the ,” road that lead to the airport terminal, once it is five o clock upward, the  type of traffic  battle around here cause many people to miss their flights. On the bridge here what do you see? People park their vehicles anyhow and turned a place designated as drop and pick Up zone, to a mini car park.  The people, the special marshal who are supposed to do the traffic management are not allowed to do their jobs. Where you see people doing jobs on which they don’t have competence, there would be problem”.

He continued that   “Air force men are not trained to control traffic; it is the marshals from the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC) that have the competence. It is cracy when you come here between 7 and 8 0clock in the evening, you see people carrying their baggage all the way from as far as the toll gate  to walk upstairs  in the  terminal just to check in, is that what you call management? All those are compiling problems. I want to question the authority when last was in-house management training, overseas training be coordinated in FAAN as a whole. How many of the staff have gone for these trainings. You don’t need to be a director to go for such trainings. There are business schools here in Nigeria that offer such in-house trainings that would teaching you how to manage your resources.  If you don’t train then you become unintelligent; you become stale.  You become somebody who repeats the old things he knows how to do everyday, whereas the world  is going into a new direction. We are in digital age. The world is a global village.”

 He pointed out that the lift at  the airport is still the same type of ancient lifts we had since this airport was built about 40 years ago.

 If you are going into the fifth floor and the lift is not functional, you have to carry your baggage and walk the stairs. If you arrive and need to go to the departure hall you need to carry your bag because the lift would not work. What does it takes to fix a lift in this airport for God’s sake, he asked. 

He lamented about the airport baggage check in counter, saying: “Look at the baggage check in counter, inside the terminals of every airport that I know, when you get into the terminal you would see the beauties. The attractions are there, people should be allowed to enjoy these services. Nigerians, the passengers are paying. They pay airport taxes. Nigerian airport is not that cheap. You need to get those services delivered.  In the transit hall where you see the transit passengers, the system that is in place would not allow the passengers to float around.” 

He said  a transit passenger has no business coming into the country as the passenger lands in the arrival hall. 

In his words, “He or she waits for the next boarding. While doing that he or she is going to drink water, eat and buy one or two things from the shops there.  That would encourage people that are paying FAAN for the rented space in the departure hall. People pay so much rent there, they don’t sell, and this is why they owe the government, because they don’t sell. The way the airport is designed anybody that has a business inside  would not sell, because the passengers would  come into the airport about two hours before departure, he spends more than a half hour checking –in  here, spends the next 30 minutes going to the gate; what time would the passengers get to the transit gate and start shopping? It is now that we now have a fantastic duty free mall in the departure, but the question now is that would they be able to meet up with the capital invested in that massive duty free in D or E Wing?”‎

He also identified the location of the port clinic as another problem in the terminal, observing that  the location of the port clinic after the security desks  in the departure is not good at all. 

“For Gods sake what do you need a clinic for in the departure hall of an airport?  All over the world, clinics are located in the arrival because you want to check somebody who is coming to your country with drugs, somebody that is not fit, or has some ailments that you don’t want to come into the country. You don’t have a clinic inside the departure hall. You need just a small space for a clinic even in the arrival hall, ‎ Ughulu emphasised.