Passengers Lament Security Checks At MMIA

Air travellers rushing to board flights on Monday lamented the long delays following resumed security checks by the police anti bomb squad near the domestic wing of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos.

Reports say that the security checks, which were first noticed during the festive period, subsided some days into the New Year only to resurface.

Following its return, a traffic snarl built up on the Mobolaji Bank Anthony Way, Ikeja, which leads to the airport, stretching to the environs of the Lagos Country Club.

The development also affected traffic along the nearby Oba Akinjobi Way, Oba Akran Road and Agege Motor Road, with some travellers going to catch their flights alighting from vehicles and resorting to trekking. One of such travelers, Mallam Yaro Abubakar, told newsmen that he had to take to trekking because he did not want to take chances.

“My brother, I have a 1. 00 p.m. flight to Abuja and I have been stuck in this traffic snarl since 11.00 a.m. “I had to disembark from the cab taking me to the airport under the Ikeja bridge, beside the gate of the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH) and resort to trekking.

“When I pass the anti bomb squad check point, I will join the airport shuttle bus to the terminal for my flight, ” he said.

Mr Uche Chimezie, who was travelling to Port Harcourt, said many people heading for the airport had lost a lot of time to the checks. “I am supposed to catch a flight to Port-Harcourt by 2.00 p.m.; assuming I left home later than I did, I would have missed my flight,’’ he said.

Chimezie said that the situation was further compounded by the restriction of commercial motorcycle operators from operating within the airport surroundings.

A worker with one of the airlines, who sought anonymity, enjoined the anti bomb squad to install metal detectors at the two gateways leading to the local and international wings of the airport.

He said that it would relieve workers and passengers the stress of staying long in traffic while security agencies conduct security checks on vehicles entering the airport.