Airlines operating at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Lagos, are indebted to the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) Airport Command to the tune of $1.170 million within the first eight months of 2015.
Chizoba Dibi, comptroller of Immigration, MMIA Command, disclosed this to journalists in Lagos at the weekend.
Dibi regretted the impact of the massive debts of the airlines on the operations of the command, saying all efforts to recover the debts had proved abortive.
She also said no fewer than 30 commercial airlines operate in and out of MMIA daily, apart from numerous private airlines that operate into and out of the terminal daily.
She recalled that the former minister of interior, Aba Moro, in two letters with the reference numbers: IMM/MMA/167A/XLVIII dated February 19, 2013, and ABJ/HQ/OPS/2029/53 dated April 26, 2013, had conveyed approval of the command to withdraw passenger clearance from the then highest debtor of carrier liability to serve as deterrent to other airlines.
She hoped that President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration would give the same approval to the command for it to recover all debts owed it by recalcitrant airlines.
At the end of August 2015, Dibi said the command had processed 665,450 arriving passengers while 755,817 had departed the country through MMIA within the period.
She further said that 3,102 regular deportees Nigerians were received within the year and that it also received 508 special deportees, while five foreigners were deported by the command within the period.
“We however have challenges, which include, but not limited to inadequate space for our offices and even for passengers. Also, the cooling systems and power supplies have been inconsistent over the years in this command. We further require more funds for running the command,” she said.
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