Sorry State Of PH Airport 

The management of the Port Harcourt International Airport, Omagwa, was remonstrated lately by visitors and persons who do business at the airport for failing to provide toilet and other essential facilities for them. The aggrieved passengers severely chided the airport management for not being proactive in providing places of convenience for those that visit or do business at the place.
According to them, people at the airport to receive travellers and do business were entitled to places of convenience since they were not allowed into the terminal building. Others claimed that while they were denied access to the airport terminal building, the administrative block toilets were locked, leaving the open car park field as the only place left for use.
Indeed, Nigerian airports are a stigma to the country. The international airport in Port Harcourt is especially notorious for contemptible and stinking outlook. The car parks are in the midst of overgrown weeds and vitiating interlocking pavement. The Federal Executive Council (FEC) had since approved N2.97 billion for fencing and perimeter road for the airport. But nothing has been done till date. At a time, the area became a grazing spot for cows which dungs produced fermentation in the environment with a very vile smell.
In 2005, an Air France plane, with 196 people on board, ploughed into cows as it touched down at the airport. Fortunately, no one on board was hurt, but the collision left seven cows dead and the runway soaked up with their blood. The airport was proclaimed a disaster zone and subsequently shut down for a few hours.
Every airport is judged in four categories: comfort, cleanliness, convenience and customer service, but sadly, the Port Harcourt International Airport falls far short of all the categories. This is scandalous and calls for stringent measures against the authorities. How did this once reputable international airport impair so abysmally?
We are certain that if there was an emergency or a fire outbreak, the airport would be unable to brandish any effective firefighting service unit. There are no sufficient trucks or firefighting personnel to respond to emergencies. We thought after the series of air crashes that lessons would have been learned and critical infrastructure put in place to avert national tragedies.
Security at the airport remains lax. Recently, a staff of the Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) and his wife living at the staff quarters were kidnapped. Touts have taken over the place, hampering the operations of passengers and airport officials. The road leading up to Ipo village runs through the airport, thus, exposing passengers to the risk of robbery and kidnap, particularly at night.
Any wonder the airport was in 2015 voted the world’s worst in line with the views of thousands of travellers in a report published by CNNMoney and released by The Guide to Sleeping in Airports – an internationally respected travel website. The unsanitary condition of the airport, lack of toilet facilities, lack of seats, unhelpful staff and broken air conditioners were just some of the reasons the airport attained the worst title.
When then Acting President Yemi Osinbajo signed the executive order on ease of doing business in 2017, the FAAN, in its reaction, vowed to end touting at all the airports of entry into Nigeria to ensure the safety and comfort of travellers and officials. But more than three years after the order was signed, touting and other illicit activities are still found at the airports.
The Port Harcourt airport is not entirely alone in the ugly state of affairs. Other airports in the country exist in a similar portentous state as well. The Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Lagos, is the most hard at work among airports across the country. Surprisingly, travellers’ experiences often qualify as an oddity in the modern air transport business.
The MMIA often experiences pitch darkness, a designating figure not limited to it. Passengers manage to descend into the terminal that could be mistaken for an oven with the aid of torchlights in the hands of airport officials. The heat that greets passengers at the entry point is blistering. Such has been the experience of air travellers in the last couple of years because of the constant power outage at the airport.
Sometimes, similar outages are experienced at the peak period of departure for most international airlines. The entire airport terminal would be thrown into darkness, compelling airline staff and profilers to carry out check-in procedures with torchlights and other manual equipment. This is the height of discomposure of mind and should not be allowed to continue.
Unfortunately, Nigeria has never paid attention to the huge benefits that abound in tourism. With colossal revenue accruing to the regulatory authorities from airport charges put at $70 per person, we think that there is no justification for the decrepit state of the airports. The atmosphere within our airports is not anything to talk about. It is really difficult to attract passengers to them.
With about 15 million passengers annually utilising the airports, the country could witness an increase to 70 million or even 100 million within five years, given the right things in place. Statistics have shown that about 40 per cent of passengers like to transit through fantastic airports globally. Dubai is a classical example. We must develop our airports accordingly through concessioning, privatisation or improved funding.
From the dark Airport road at night, dirty floors and bathrooms to the regular request for bribes, authorities of the Port Harcourt International Airport should act now to improve the state of the airport which was once the peacock flower fence of the country and stop making it a huge national joke. The airport should be fenced and the street lights activated to ensure safety and check influx of unauthorised persons. It must be realised that a modern airport is a gateway to economic prosperity for a state or nation.