The Murtala Mu-hammed Interna-tional Airport (MMIA) is West Africa’s busiest air facility. It is not just the main centre of airline operations in Nigeria, it also serves as a regional hub. Opened in March 1979, the MMIA has, in the last three decades, lost many of the features that made it one of Africa’s best airports.
The nauseating attitude of the security personnel at the airport, most of whom have turned to uniformed beggars; malfunctioning conveyor belts, old and dirty trolleys, non-operational air conditioners, and poorly managed public conveniences are daily reminders that all is not well with the nation’s premier international airport. Like many other things in the country, our poor maintenance culture has caught up with the once beautiful airport.
In no other area is this more evident than in the state of the road leading from the airport into main Lagos. Some of the potholes on the road can bury the entire tyre of a car. Oil tankers coming to load at the Sahara Oil depot located at the toll gate linking the International and domestic airports regularly park on the road thus impeding traffic flow.
Breakdown of cars are a regular experience on the road leading to Oshodi and Apapa. While the authorities concerned have thought it wise to light up the immediate environs of the airport, the road leading out to Oshodi, which actually harbours the most dangerous potholes, remains dark at night.
First impressions last long, and poor infrastructure, anywhere in the world, is a disincentive to investment. Countries are not corporations but like corporations, countries must find their own personality and define the traits of their character, if they truly desire to reinforce their brand, and be taken seriously in the comity of nations. In the realm of foreign investments, perception is a key determinant of the flow of funds.
Any effort at national rebranding that neglects creating a good and positively lasting impression in the minds of visitors, risks remaining a discredited brand. Obviously, Nigeria, at the moment, appears to be an intractable brand, not so much for what outsiders see of it as for what they hear of it. Given that situation, it is logical to expect a government with an avowed determination to rebrand and create a perception of Nigeria that is good, to make pleasant the visible things that guests see about it, particularly those things that create lasting impressions in their minds.
Given the effort the Lagos state government has made in developing road infrastructure in its domain, it is reasonable to assume that the reason the Airport – Apapa Road has remained in the dilapidated state that it is now, is simply because it is a federal road. The movement of the Federal Capital away from Lagos should not mean the absence of federal attention. Such neglect is not healthy for a state that contributes more that 40 per cent of the country’s tax revenue.
