Air travellers and aviation stakeholders have expressed satisfaction with the renovation of the E-Wing terminal of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Lagos, following the reopening of the renovated terminal for international flight operations.
This is even as the Managing Director of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), Mrs Olubunmi Kuku, revealed the Federal Government’s plan to enhance passenger experience and infrastructure across airports in the country.
Speaking to journalists during the inspection tour of the airport facilities and monitoring of vehicular traffic, Kuku said, “There is quite a lot that we have in mind. I have mentioned that passengers’ experience is critical. We are opening the terminal and, in addition we are going to make sure we focus on the cooling system. We are collaborating with heads of other agencies at the airport to make sure our operations streamline.
“There has to be a solution because we cannot afford to keep this going. We owe it to our passengers, we owe it to ourselves. Our core responsibility at FAAN is to provide good passenger experience, with good infrastructure, safety and comfort so we will make sure that is done. That is why I am here.”
The tour of facilities at the renovated terminal building alongside some aviation journalists coincided with the arrival of British Airways as the first foreign airline to be facilitated through the transformed terminal that can compete with terminal building elsewhere.
Many of the passengers who spoke on arrival onboard the British Airways from London commended the government for a well-thought-out plan to refurbish the E-Wing arrival hall of the terminal which was done in collaboration with the Nigeria Immigration Service.
The height of the reopening of the E-Wing terminal was the tumultuous reception given to a foreign passenger who happened to be arriving the country for the first time and coincidentally the first to step his feet into the hall.
The first user of the terminal was welcomed on a red carpet provided by FAAN management led by the Airport Manager and the Manager of Southwest Airports, Mr Sunday Ayodele, who presented a gift to the passenger in the presence of the Comptroller of Immigration, Lagos Airport Command and other officials.
Many of the passengers who spoke to the journalists particularly commended the architectural displays adorning the E-Wing terminal, which depicted the various tribes and inscriptions of Nigerian greetings on its walls.
According to a female passenger, “I like the art work; I hope they can maintain it. Thanks to everyone who has contributed, including government and private sector for accomplishing this. This is beautiful. There has been an improvement which is commendable. We are getting there little by little but we just pray that we are able to maintain it and improve on it.”
It would be recalled that the hitherto dilapidated old terminal, which was built in 1979 after the Schiphol airport, became an embarrassment for the country following its constant use without provisions for maintenance by successive governments through former ministers of aviation.
Rather than carrying out the maintenance of the old terminal that generates almost 80 percent revenue for the sector, past ministers either deliberately or ignorantly only diverted attentions to other secondary issues while one or two others only tried to scratch the surface of the infrastructural deficiency.
While the previous ministers looked the other way, the old terminal which happened to be providing the critical services through where the foreign airlines and few Nigerian domestic carriers that engaged in transporting millions of Nigerians and other nationals into and out of the country, started losing its infrastructural prestige as all the facilities therein started collapsing.
At a point, within the old terminal, there was no week that it did not record a breakdown in its facilities ranging from power outage, fire outbreak, leaking roofs, malfunctioning conveyor belts, malfunctioning cooling systems to poor conveniences, among other challenges.
Many travellers and key players had at the different fora lamented the bad situation with some Nigerians in the diaspora threatening to sue the government for not getting value for the huge fares and other charges they paid for air transport only to be confronted with obsolete facilities.
This was the situation until the government of President Bola Tinubu appointed Mr Festus Keyamo as Minister of Aviation.
As fate would have it, just as the minister was stepping in, part of the obsolete old terminal building suffered a fire outbreak traced to a spark. It did not take the minister longer to realise the enormous work at hand and it did not take him time to announce the temporary shutdown of the old terminal for repairs.
Though his announcement to not only temporary shutdown the controversial terminal but directed the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), to relocate all international flight operations to the new terminal nearby was followed by outcry from the airlines, passengers over the inconveniences and other logistics problems the relocation would cause, but the end has finally justified the means.
