Mrs. Olubunmi Kuku, MD, FAAN
By Sade Williams
Over the years, touting activities at Nigeria’s airports have impacted negatively on the nation’s air transport sector’s rating.
From buying tickets and reselling at outrageous rates to unsuspecting passengers, to selling fake tickets and waylaying airport users, it is known that their activities pose security risk to the airports environment generally.
Some of them could be used as informants and can subsequently be armed with classified information which should never have been.
In fact, they represent an insider threats, which any criminal or terror group would like to use for their benefits.
In the recent years, touting activities at the nation’s airports have continued to exist as a perennial problem, that has been very difficult to tackle, despite all the efforts put in by the Authorities.
Usually these touts engage themselves in all sort of activities – carry passenger’s luggage, make a reservation for their taxis and hotels, purchase and resell airline tickets at the airport. Besides, they extort money, collect illegal fees from passengers, engage in stealing and intimidate passengers.
The unease caused by these reprehensible activities of touts to the nation’s air transport industry reputation is a red flag, especially when trying to lure potential investors and tourists to the country. Many years ago, it came to a level in Nigeria that it became a national embarrassment.
Many years back, touting activities at the nation’s airports is seen as perennial issue that cannot be solved by any means.
However, with the coming on board of the Managing Director of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria, Mrs Olubunmi Kuku, it is gradually becoming clear that the issue of touting will soon be a thing of the past.
Unsatisfied with the touts’ activities at the airports and due to her commitment to creating a seamless and pleasant experience for travelers, Mrs Olubunmi Kuku is already tackling the menace to prevent further exploitation of passengers and to protect the air transport holistically.
Mrs Kuku has therefore, taken decisive steps towards achieving her aim. To drive the process effectively, she is making plans to establish magistrate courts at international airports to expedite the legal process for prosecuting offenders.
Beyond the legal process, her administration has launched an extensive campaign to crack down on such illegal activities. One of such moves is the establishment of a dedicated task force aimed at ensuring a smooth and pleasant travel experience for all airport users. The task force has been mandated to enforce discipline among airport staff and maintain a culture of professionalism at all levels.
Kuku did not just stop at that; she went further to engage with all government agencies operating at the airports to ensure compliance with the anti-touting and anti-extortion measures.
In addition, dedicated phone lines and QR codes have also been set up to provide passengers with a means of providing feedback on their airport experience.
To also ensure that touting of any kind is completely eradicated, it is now mandatory that all airport personnel must prominently display their on-duty cards and name tags for easy identification and accountability.
However, these efforts put up to fight against touts have not gone unnoticed and have garnered commendations from stakeholders and even the Honourable Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Mr Festus Keyamo.
In support of the impressive strategies the FAAN boss is adopting, regarding touting and extortion at Nigerian airports, Keyamo has also offered her the full support.
Now, there are billboards well mounted at strategic locations to warn airport users against touts and extortion with accompanying directives on how passengers who are harassed can notify.
With the efforts, Kuku and her agency is putting to eradicate touting activities at the airports, there are possibilities that, she can comfortably win the much fought war against touting activities.
No doubt, Kuku as a multi-talented, resourceful aviation industry professional with vast management expertise has shown that she is the right person to effectively manage the FAAN and to take the airports to the desired level and in line with global.
