Lagos Airport: The Shame Of A Nation

[caption id="attachment_20815" align="alignnone" width="850"]Murtala Muhammed Airport, Lagos[/caption]

I have spent much of the last four weeks traveling in Africa and Asia. During trips I tend to pay keen attention to airports – the efficiencies of how they are run, systems, staff, cleanliness, the quality of air, and the overall ambience.

Today, I arrived once again at Murtala Muhammed Airport in Lagos. An airport which tells so many stories about Nigeria, but for all the wrong reasons.

1. Straight out of the plane, we emptied into a dark arrival area with no electricity.

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2. The pungent smells emanating from the toilets wafted from the arrival hall into the baggage claim area.

3. The filth on the windows, walls, and floors stared you in the face.

I asked myself once again – “Have we no shame? Are we not scandalized by the filth that assails every single passenger and guest who arrives in Nigeria? Are we so inept that in 2017 we still fail to connect the dots between visual and sensory experiences and this brand called Nigeria? Of what use is a Minister of Aviation and the exorbitant taxes applied to airline tickets when this cesspool of an airport continually fails to function in the user-friendly manner that it should, and when we simply can’t get the basics right?

Is running an airport efficiently rocket science?

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I for one will never keep quiet in this regard, or come to a point where what is patently wrong and unacceptable begins to appear normal.

Shame on FAAN. Shame on the Ministry of Aviation. Shame on the Minister of Aviation.
SHAME ON NIGERIA!

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