Begging Disposition of Nigerian Airport Officials

Chinedu Eze

The incident of IShowSpeed, an American YouTuber, Darren Jason Watkins Jr., complaining about Nigerians begging him money (show us love) on his arrival in Nigeria, has again brought to the fore the embarrassing attitude of some Nigerians, especially airport officials soliciting for or extorting money from air travellers.

IShowSpeed complaint gained traction because of his personality, but over the years, this disgraceful attitude has literally been imbedded in the fabrics of airport workers to the extent that it has been taken for granted despite the fact that it paints despicable image of Nigeria to the outside world.

Security operatives like the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) usually look for loopholes to indict passengers and blackmail them into giving them money. They take the advantage of arbitrarily interpreting the law to indict some ignorant passengers and extort them or deliberately delay them until they “settle” so that they will not miss their flights.

THISDAY investigations revealed that most often the Aviation Security (AVSEC) officials of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) work in cahoots with Custom officials.

This was further confirmed on Monday when THISDAY monitored the movement of passengers entering the Departures and passing their luggage through the state-of-the art x-ray machines (Orion 927DX). While there was not the usual table, the security operatives of NDLEA and NCS were intercepting some passengers’ and further screening their luggage off the x-ray machines, a spot that creates the interface where extortion could happen.

On the arrival side, a passenger who arrived on December 26 with Delta Air Lines from Atlanta to Lagos (name withheld), narrated how he was “harassed” by Immigration official who softly told him to bless him and when he pretended not to understand him, “he started playing tough.”

“This is our country and nobody can intimidate me. Everyone was just finding ways to extort or beg from me. It was shameful. I was just thinking what those foreigners who arrived with us would be thinking,” he told THISDAY.

The passenger also told THISDAY that because of delay, he could not pick his bag and had to leave it and travel to Owerri. But the airline through the handling company brought his bag and he came to pick it later.

“The bag was ripped open and some of the things in the bag were stolen. I don’t know who to hold responsible. They said I should write to the airline, but I didn’t have time for that long bureaucracy. I returned with the airline back to the US. I still faced workers asking me for money on my way back to the US,” he revealed to THISDAY.

THISDAY spoke to stakeholders who have been providing services at the airport over the years and they narrated personal experiences.

One of them, who had worked at the Lagos airport for over 35 years, said that despite several measures taken by FAAN to stop extortion and soliciting for gifts, the culture has persisted to the detriment of Nigeria’s image both at home and abroad.

“All the efforts we read and watch in the media by FAAN to eradicate this habit is summed up by the phrase: ‘culture eats strategy for breakfast’. The immigration e-passport control system in Abuja and Lagos airports is working fine. No hassles there. But the rest of the agencies are on business as usual mode. They tone down their aggression while the anti-solicitation is launched and the campaign is loud. They return to status quo the next month; or, they devise ways to beat the new strategy. Practical experiences by travellers reveal they still solicit for money in the airport. They obtain unofficial money from new or non-informed travellers. They hang around between the car parks and the entrance to terminal building. They represent the staff inside the terminal building. They know all the workings so they offer you “help” that will cost you.

“FAAN cannot oversee other agencies in the airport that have their assignments, roles and reporting lines different from FAAN and Ministry of Aviation like Quarantine department. The cartels can overwhelm the FAAN’S supervisor in charge of a terminal. They are organised and deeply entrenched. People avoid talking about this aspect, but if you’ve worked long enough at MMIA (international terminal), you must have felt and seen their impact. Managers come and go but they remain,” the stakeholder said.

“In the cargo terminal, the security agencies must have the courage to back FAAN to route them out. FAAN managers must have the courage to insist on implementing their innovations and strategy to the point of noticeable results.

“Often the various associations of freight and passenger agents determine who has stickers for the various car parks in partnership with FAAN. If they don’t clear you, you don’t buy the sticker. A few managers come with passion and zeal to sanitize the environment, but they get posted out without completing the job; and if they stay long, their passion and zeal become weak. They get incapacitated. It’s a national renaissance that will make us proud enough to defend not defile our image as a people. Until then, we keep evolving strategies and implementing them while our culture swallows them,” the stakeholder further said.

The stakeholder added that the Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo, has backed FAAN to end extortion at the airports, but there are other ministries, departments, and agencies whose agendas are different.

“FAAN no longer transact by cash. But the police or the civil defence officer by the entrance does not work for FAAN. They are all viewed as airport personnel (lumped as FAAN staff by visitors).

“FAAN must devise a way to receive memos that expose illegal dealings in the airport without compromising the identity of the reporter. But they must use such report to work with. This should keep eroding the influence of these syndicates. When their trade no longer brings them financial gains they will give up. FAAN is trying but the society is not catching up with FAAN’s effort,” the stakeholder added

He also said: “There are evidences where people that came forward to expose these syndicates were maimed or silenced. Information usually leaks from FAAN insider collaborators. Legitimate business managers in the airport have experienced intimidation from the cartels for resisting these illegal and amorphous groups that take advantage of travellers and shippers in MMIA. Even FAAN managers have faced threats.”

A seasoned tourism analyst told THISDAY that Nigerians have normalised begging at the airports and other places and have seen it as a culture, which is disgraceful.

“We don’t feel offended about begging. IShowSpeed activity laid bare the begging culture. Solicitation is the same thing. Everybody at work feels it in Nigeria,” he said.

He suggested that FAAN should reinforce its no corruption campaign at the airports and recalled that Ghana airport authority started similar campaign some years ago and it bore fruits because the whole administration areas of the Kotoka International Airport and other areas were captured by CCTV; so, exchange of money or gift could not take place without its being captured.

“So, daring few would go to the car part or the lift to take bribes but it significantly curbed bribery at the airport,” he said.

However, when THISDAY monitored the airport on Monday evening, out of the four arriving passengers interviewed to find out if anyone solicited for money from them; three said no one asked them for money, while one said yes.

“I had issues with Customs people,” he further said without elaborating.