FAAN AND THE AIRPORTS’ TOUTS

FAAN should get rid of touts from the airports

A major downside of using Nigeria’s airports is the intimidation and harassment by touts employed by the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) to manage vehicular movement at the facilities. At many airports across the country, these traffic management personnel who are often slovenly dressed and operate as though above the law have now become a menace to motorists. On Twitter last week, a woman narrated how, at the Akure airport in Ondo State, her husband was beaten up by these official touts with serious injuries inflicted on him. That opened a floodgate of nasty experiences in the hands of these licensed thugs. 

We understand that the original purpose for engaging the services of traffic management officials was to make sure that motorists do not park on the thoroughfare so as not to obstruct traffic and hinder travellers from getting to the terminals for their flights. At the time the plan was conceived, such obstruction was noticed at different airports in the country. To address the problem, the FAAN management decided to concession the vehicle traffic management. But in recent times, agents of these concessionaires have been known to unscrupulously harass, intimidate and extort innocent motorists at the airports. They lay traps for motorists and swoop on victims, seize their vehicles, and forcefully drive them to different locations for the purpose of extortion.  

While the initial intention of FAAN may have been noble, the touts have abandoned their rule of engagement, which is to ensure that vehicles are properly parked. By seeing this as means of revenue collection, vehicle management at the airports has moved from correctional to punitive, as motorists who fall into their hands are made to pay arbitrary fees to free their vehicles.  Many unscrupulous FAAN officials are reportedly part of this shady deal. 

At virtually all the airports in Nigeria, the whole idea of ensuring smooth passage of vehicle has been turned into a lucrative industry. In Lagos, the traffic management officers will park their towing van, hide it on the way to the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) head office (now regional office) and wait for motorists. When they get a victim, they quickly move in with the towing van to block access and while some of their personnel distract the unsuspecting driver, others would begin to chain the vehicle and hook it to their van. Vehicles that go through that towing process usually have broken bumpers because of the old, obsolete equipment used to hook them to the rickety vans. 

What is unfortunate is that many people driving to the airports do not have forewarning about vehicle movement, where they should not park and the consequences. This is done on purpose: To get more culprits who would be made to pay to meet the financial targets of the concessionaire and that of the touts who enforce the rules. The towing companies also deploy their staff to ensnare road users by stationing some people who carry luggage like travellers at locations designated as no parking zone. Unsuspecting motorists who attempt to pick such a “passenger” is immediately pounced upon. They are then forced to pay fines ranging from N15,000 to N50,000 depending on their power of negotiation. 

We call on FAAN to review its relationship with the concessionaires that manage vehicle movement at the airports. There is also an urgent need for FAAN to inform the public about road usage at the airports. Above all, FAAN must rid our airports of touting and activities that encourage it.