With the opening of the newly-constructed Terminal 3 of the Kotoka International Airport in Accra, Ghana, Nigeria’s West African neighbour has once again given a badly-needed lesson to Africa’s largest economy on what can be achieved in infrastructure development with the right political will.
Ghana, usually seen as Nigeria’s smaller neighbour, currently leads the country in a number of other areas. In mobile money, Ghana is now a model of success, boasting 23.9 million registered accounts out of an estimated 28 million population at the end of 2017, while Nigeria continues to struggle as it tries to figure out how to apply what is otherwise a ‘simple process’.
The same can be said of health insurance where, even though its administration has depreciated over time, Ghana still has wider coverage, with over 40 percent of the population covered as against Nigeria’s less than 5 percent.
A recent report by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) showed that Ghana overtook Nigeria as the largest recipient of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in 2018. While Ghana attracted $3.3 billion, Nigeria’s FDI inflow declined by 36 percent to $2.2 billion.
With the opening, in September 2018, of Terminal 3 of Ghana’s Kotoka airport, which observers say is a masterpiece that shows what can be achieved when governments, even in Africa, decide to measure up to international standards, Ghana has again shown the way to Nigeria.
Operated by Ghana Airports Company Limited (GACL), construction on the flagship Terminal 3 Kotoka airport project began in March 2016 and was completed in June 2018. Three months later, the terminal was opened to traffic, taking off pressure on the existing two terminals.
To a first-time traveller, the airport, even though it appears small, could be mistaken for one of the aesthetically appealing airports found in Europe. But once a traveller enters the arrival hall and sees the airport staff, it becomes certain the flight was not diverted to a wrong destination.
The new terminal is said to have the capacity to process 1,250 passengers at peak times and is expected to handle up to 5 million passengers a year with an expansion potential of up to 6.5 million passengers. It is fully equipped with a large retail and commercial area, three business lounges, six fixed links and seven air bridges expandable to eight. The departures level of the terminal features 56 check-in desks, 30 passport control counters, which include four e-gate positions, and eight security lanes. The arrivals level houses 24 immigration counters, four e-gate positions expandable to eight, and four baggage claim areas.
A fully-automated baggage handling system, designed in accordance with the latest European Civil Aviation Conference Hold Baggage Screening (ECAC HBS) requirements, is also provided to handle 3,500 bags an hour.
Koffi Ada, Ghana’s minister of aviation, was reported to have lamented recently that the airport ‘looked too foreign’ and did not bear insignias to easily identify it as Ghanaian. According to media reports, the minister said in order to appreciate the Ghanaian culture, it was important to add some Ghanaian art and culture, such as Adinkra symbols and the national colours to both the airside and landside areas of the new terminal.
“When you fly into Accra and look at it from the airside, you don’t see anything Ghanaian about it,” he reportedly said.
When BusinessDay correspondent landed at the airport in December 2018, there was no army of desperate personnel from different government agencies to harass travellers. It was as smooth as disembarking at the Schipol airport in Amsterdam, or Heathrow in London, retrieving your luggage from the conveyor belt, and strutting out of the airport without needless harassment from customs and other agencies.
The International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO), in a report on ‘The economic and social benefits of air transport’, said aviation provides the only worldwide transportation network, which makes it essential for global business and tourism. It plays a vital role in facilitating economic growth, particularly in developing countries.
But this reality seems to constantly elude Nigeria’s policymakers as, in contrast to the new face of Kotoka airport, Nigerian airports, including the Murtala Mohammed International Airport (MMIA) in Lagos, the country’s gateway to the world, are an eyesore.
Describing the appalling state of Nigerian airports in an article on www.modernghana.com, Tony Ogunlowo, an analyst, said a great many of Nigeria’s 26 airports, under the auspices of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), have been allowed to fall into a state of disrepair over the years. He decried the terrible conditions that include “uncompleted structures, gaping holes in their runways, non-existent sanitary and passenger facilities, constant power failure and security issues”, saying some of the airports, “like the one in Port Harcourt, are just glorified ramshackle motor parks complete with agberos and other unsavoury characters”.
“Pilots are forever complaining about having to negotiate pot-holes on runways and in December 2013, a Saudi Arabian cargo plane damaged its undercarriage landing on a runway in Abuja,” Ogunlowo said.
The construction of four new airport terminals in Nigeria as part of a deal inked with the Chinese could have seen Africa’s largest economy showcasing some of the best airports on the continent, but this has not fully materialised. A $500 million loan from Chinese Exim Bank in 2013 with counterpart funding of $100 million from the Federal Government was to see the Lagos, Abuja, Port Harcourt and Kano Airports getting new terminals. At present, only Abuja and Port Harcourt have got new terminals.
The new terminal at Port Harcourt airport, which foundation was laid on March 1, 2014, was commissioned by President Muhammadu Buhari on October 25, 2018 and only became fully operational on January 25, 2019. Similarly, the newly rebuilt Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport terminal in Abuja was commissioned on December 20, 2018 and received its inaugural flight 17 days later. On January 24, 2019, Ethiopia Airlines began daily flight operations from the terminal.
The long delay between commissioning of the terminals and opening them to traffic fuelled speculations that they were not actually ready for public use but were only commissioned for political expediency.
But even with the opening of swanky new airport terminals in Nigeria, observers fear that the needless harassment and extortion of travellers by desperate officials of government agencies, including Nigerian Customs Services, NDLEA, and NAQS, may not go away soon.
In November 2018, Kemi Atiba, a popular Nigerian filmmaker and television director, shared her experience on social media after returning from a trip to France. She narrated how Customs officers tried using intimidation to execute a shakedown of sort by demanding payments for used personal effects, not new items. This is the same experience foreigners and citizens alike are subjected to when they dare to enter Nigeria through any of the notorious international airports.
“We all know this happens, yet nothing is done about it. I was speaking to an expatriate just hours before in Paris and he was complaining about his treatment at Nigerian airports. At every single stop, they try to get money off him by cuddle or by force. Corruption has eaten so deep into our core and it is an absolute shame,” Adetiba tweeted.
“We shouldn’t allow people use their offices or uniforms to ‘rob’ or frustrate Nigerians or any other people. Our airport needs an entire overhaul. From the workers to the actual infrastructure,” she wrote.
CALEB OJEWALE
