The Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria, FAAN, has threatened to parmernently ban any airport officials found culpable of extorting air travellers in Airports.
This is coming on the heels of several viral videos on social media where foreigners revealed how airport officials in Nigeria extort air passengers during boarding.
An investigative British journalist was compelled to embark on a fact-finding mission due to the alarming rate of extortion of air passengers at the Murtala Muhammed international airport in lagos.
Worried by the trend, an African American woman, Alina Oliver who was extorted over the validity of her COVID-19 test also shared her experience in a four-episode videos at the hands of the corrupt airports officials.
For the past 7 years, extortion and indiscipline of airports’ officials in Nigeria, particularly the security operatives who forced passengers to pay money or have their luggage seized as those in a hurry were paying to allow them go to airlines processing counter to check in.
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The past years, efforts made by the Federal Authority of Nigeria, FAAN, to put an end to the corrupt practices appear to be unproductive.
This compelled the FAAN, Airport managers and head of aviation security at the airports to hold an emergency meeting in Abuja towards providing lasting solutions to the sharp practices.
FAAN said in the past, arrests of corrupt airports’ officials were carried out daily and appealed to the public to also verify videos posted on social media to avoid been mislead.
In September, The Nigeria house of representatives had mandated it’s committees on customs, finance, aviation and agriculture to investigate the impact of extortion in the airports across Nigeria.
Reporter: Funke Ogunlolu Editor: Paul Akhagbemhe
