Unhelpful
staff, demands for bribes, lack of seating, broken air-conditioning and a tent
for an arrivals hall. Nigeria's Port Harcourt International Airport was
recently voted the worst in the world.
The damning
verdict came from a travel website, sleepinginairports.net, based on feedback
from thousands of travellers on criteria such as terminal services and
facilities, cleanliness and comfort.
As well as the
dubious global honour, Port Harcourt, Nigeria's oil hub, was described as
"the dirtiest and most corrupt airport in Africa".
The capital,
Abuja, and financial hub, Lagos, were judged seventh and 10th worst on the
continent.
But the
country's aviation regulator, the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN),
disputed the ranking.
FAAN spokesman
Yakubu Dati called it "unfounded" as the domestic terminal at Port
Harcourt was undergoing renovation and a new international terminal was being
built.
Lagos' Murtala
Muhammed International Airport has also undergone similar renovation, while
Chinese engineers are building a new terminal at the Nnamdi Azikiwe airport in
Abuja.
"While we
regret any inconvenience experienced at these airports, including Port Harcourt
International Airport, due to ongoing construction projects, we promise all
airport users that services at these airports will surely get better at the
completion of these projects," he told AFP.
Nigeria's
aviation industry has evolved since the liquidation of the state-run Nigeria
Airways in the early 2000s because of mismanagement and corruption.
With more than
20 functional planes in 1979, the national carrier was left with just two in
1999, prompting the government to throw open the skies to the private sector.
Carriers such
as Arik Air, Dana Air, Aero Contractors, Med-View, Kabo and Overland Airways
have since emerged as key players.
Arik, which
has a partnership for maintenance with Lufthansa, is dominant with a strong
presence on domestic and regional routes, as well as longer-haul flights to
London, and Johannesburg.
Med-View
recently got the nod to fly Lagos-London from November 20.
- Safety fears
-
British
Airways, Virgin Atlantic, Lufthansa, Air France-KLM, Gulf carriers Emirates and
Qatar Airways and African airlines South African and Ethiopian are among
international carriers flying to Nigeria.
On domestic
routes, fuel shortages regularly lead to flight cancellations while air
crashes, such as a Dana Air flight that came down in Lagos in 2012, killing
147, have generated safety fears.
In airports
themselves, decaying or non-existent facilities have failed to make good
impressions.
In 2012, the
government awarded contracts to remodel Nigeria's 22 airports, including the
construction of new terminals at four international airports, with the help of
a $500 million loan from China's Nexim Bank.
On completion,
the projects are expected to help grow passenger traffic to 16 million
passengers per year, from 14.1 million in 2012.
Aviation
experts, however, say the extent of works do not correspond to the money spent.
"The
remodelling of the airports has been on for four years, but regrettably, not
much is on ground in terms of modern facilities," said a former senior
official of the Nigeria Airspace Management Agency on condition of anonymity.
The chairman
of commercial carrier Arik, Joseph Arumemi-Ikhide, shared a similar view and
called on the government to focus on infrastructure, from terminals to luggage
conveyor belts.
"With
this and good fuel supply the airlines can operate efficiently," he said.
Niyi Akinnaso,
a US-based university teacher and newspaper columnist, said familiar Nigerian
problems of mismanagement and corruption were holding the sector back.
The $500
million Chinese loan would not have been necessary if there were proper
accountability in revenue collection, he argued in a recent article in The
Punch newspaper.
He said the
Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria rakes in more than $2 billion a year from
passenger surcharges and other fees, including a $60 surcharge from every
international ticket.
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