TOUTING THRIVES AT MMA2

*Passengers Lament

The activities of touts at the Murtala Muhammed Airport Lagos (MMA) has become a source of worry to airport users, a  News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) check has revealed.

 

They are found in and around the terminal building of both the domestic and international wing of the airport.

In some cases the touts are seen with airline uniforms pretending to be staff in order to rip passengers off.

NAN reports that the business of touting takes place in various forms and at different levels, one of such is ticket racketeering.  

This is a situation whereby unsuspecting passengers are accosted by strangers offering to purchase tickets on their behalf for a fee. 

Some passengers, who spoke to NAN on the obnoxious acts, said the touts conspire with airline staff to extort money from them.

They said that they had experienced situations where touts spend long time on queues purchasing tickets for those passengers that they had collected extra money from.

``In this situation until they are attended to, no other passenger will be attended too, in most cases they are the ones that will inform you that the seats are fully booked,’’ a Port Harcourt bound passenger, Ime Utibe said.

Utibe said that the act of soliciting for business or customers in a shameless and uncanny manner does not portray the airport in good light to foreign investors.

Another passenger, Adio Adelani, claimed he was made to cough out extra N2, 000 to a tout to enable him, buy a flight ticket of N18, 000.

``On this day, I got to the General Aviation Terminal (GAT) to catch a flight to Abuja, when I was told at one of the counters that the flight was fully booked. 

``As I left the counter, a young man accosted me, claiming to be working for one of the airlines and that he will assist to get a seat, only if I will pay an extra amount, which I obliged.

``But surprisingly, few minutes later he returned with a ticket from the same counter where I was told that the flight was fully booked,’’ he narrated.

Comfort Abang, an Enugu bound passenger stated that the unpatriotic act of touting also existed at the Abuja airport, while advising managers of the airports to do something urgently to eliminate touts completely.

Abang identified some of the mode of touting to include helping passengers in carrying their luggage and checking-in on their behalf.

She said that in this case, many passengers had lost their luggages to the touts.

A tout, who claimed to be an employee of one of the airlines, said he collected N20,000 for an  airline ticket instead of the  actual fare of N18,000.

He said after collecting the money from the unsuspecting passengers, he would go into the counter of the airline and approach the ticket officer to purchase the ticket.  

The tout who simply gave his name as Abby, confirmed that he  buys the tickets at the normal fare behind counter and that the profit is shared between him and the ticketing officers.

 Corroborating the views of the passengers, the Chief Operating Officer, Murtala Muhammed Airport Terminal 2, Mr Jerome Marinho, said that some of those classified as touts are usually seen with 'On Duty Cards' (ODC) issued by the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN).

He stated that Bi-Courtney Aviation Services Ltd, could do little or nothing to control those with these cards, which allowed certain persons to operate within the airport.

``We held series of meetings with the airlines and other stakeholders operating within the terminal building against the activities of touting around the airport,’’ Marinho said.

The COO disclosed that members of staff of airlines whose operations have been grounded are often seen with such airlines’ identity cards in one form or the other attending to passengers.

Marinho also said that those involved in touting are retired as well as retrenched workers, both of the airport agencies, airlines, and members of security operatives including lay-about as major culprits.

Some airline staff contacted over the issue attributed the menace of touting to increase in joblessness in the society.

The staff who preferred anonymity claimed that their staff were not involved in the act and that they would ensure that their staff abide by the aviation rules and regulations.

But the General Manager, Public Affairs of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), Mr Akin Olukunle, exonerated the authority from any complicity in the handling of touts across the nation’s airports.

He said FAAN does not issue ODC to workers of the airport indiscriminately and that before the issuance, each person wanting it are thoroughly screened by its aviation security personnel.  

Olukunle added that as a result of the menace of  touts, FAAN security regularly embarked on raid of touts  and other unscrupulous elements in and around the airport.

``We have regularly made several arrests and have handed them over to the police for prosecution. These actions of ours have drastically reduced touting compared to what used to be in the past,’’ he said. (NAN)