By Pini Jason
LAST week, the Minister for
Trade and Investment, Mr.
Olusegun Aganga, was
meeting with some
stakeholders in trade and
investment, and I presume,
some investors too. As usual
the issue of cost of doing
business in Nigeria came up.
And as usual, the clichéd
promise Nigerian government
officials make to investors
was generously made. As I
watched this formality go on, I
wondered if the Honourable
Minister himself appreciates
how unfriendly the
investment climate in Nigeria
is.
To put it mildly, it is a crime
to want to invest in Nigeria,
unless you have your eyes on
such soft targets like
petroleum subsidy! But first,
let us consider the arrival of
an investor into Nigeria.
You probably have noticed
that nobody is talking
stridently about the 20:2020
any more. Ask yourself, which
country that wishes to be one
of the 20 biggest economies
in the world in the year 2020
would build itself cubicles for
international airports?
I have said it once here that
Nigeria is a very user
unfriendly country. Thus, our
airports are the most user
unfriendly airports in the
world! At our airports, it is
push- push, shove-shove. This
is a product of our makeshift
and potakabin mentality. We
have a small country, Third
World, we-are-not-ready-for-
it, concept of ourselves.
Processing passengers
through our so-called
international airports is a
torture. It is characterised by
pushing, shoving and
confusion such that, often,
passengers forget their
valuables at the screening
point. I would have thought
that adequate space helps in
thorough screening of
passengers.
Space is itself part of security.
Our Red and Green channels
are actually not channels.
There is no channel behind
which customs officers could
observe the behaviour of
passengers. They are just red
and green markings on the
exits!
You may not like it if I said
that you can put the Murtala
Muhammed International
Airport and the Nnamdi
Azikiwe International Airport
inside Terminal Five of
Heathrow Airport and still
have a space for Aminu Kano
International Airport. But let
us go to the Kotoka
International Airport, Accra.
I used that airport for the first
time in December 1976. I
used it again in November
2008. I can tell you that no
expansion work had taken
place there. This is because it
was a cavernous airport from
day one. It was built with a
sight to the future! Here the
popular excuse is, we will get
there! With the money we
throw around, we should be
arriving at certain
destinations in our
development efforts!
Vision into the future
At the time the so-called
international airports at Ikeja
was constructed, we had
enough money and space to
construct an airport that
mirrored our vision for the
future, but we cheated on
ourselves! Our planners at
that time were people with
stunted vision and could not
see beyond their nose.
The Murtala Mohammed
International airport mistake
was repeated at Abuja. We
took off with a makeshift
Nnamdi Azikiwe International
airport that later became the
local wing while we built yet
another cubicle called
international wing.
I wonder if our planners and
those who accept the stupid
designs their foreign
consultants give them
understand the health need
always imperceptibly
incorporated into airport
designs. In most flights you sit
for a minimum of six hours
with no more exercise than
walking along the cabin isle or
using the toilet.
Most of the frequent fliers are
senior citizens. Thus, in major
international airports in
civilised world, where people
do not cheat on themselves
or steal from themselves,
apart from providing ample
space for airport handlings,
deliberate effort is made to
provide for the health of
travellers.
You walk a long distance from
the plane to the immigration,
within which time you get
circulation back to nearly
swelling legs and get your
heart pumping again.
In some airports like Oliver
Thambo International in
Johannesburg, some portions
of the stretch to the
immigration hall are raised to
task the heart a bit. But here
we have airports where you
are made to jump from the
plane to immigration hall and
hop down to baggage claim
area where you push and
shove and quack at one
another with creaking trolleys
as if in a wheel chair game!
And yet some racketeers
charge you for trolleys and
N1000 for service charge in a
most user unfriendly airport in
the world! The only friendly
thing you get is: “oga we are
loyal o!” Or “oga wetin you
chop remain?”
If you are waiting for or
seeing off a passenger in any
of our airports you have to
stay outside in the sun or rain.
Our local airlines make you
come to the airport two hour
before departure because
checking in a war. There is no
guarantee that the flight will
take off on schedule or that
checking in would begin as
soon as you arrive.
Inside the checking in area,
there are no seats even for an
elderly passenger to rest his
or her legs before checking in.
If she has heavy loads,
relations are not allowed to
help her to the checking in
counter, which is not a
restricted area.
She must pay for airport
porters. If you think that this
has anything to do with
security, then somebody has
to go back to security school.
The clever idea is to keep
people to the barest minimum
in a cubicle that is not enough
for passengers.
The Honourable Minister of
Aviation, Mrs. Stella Odua, on
assumption of office,
undertook an inspection tour
of major airports in the
country. I wonder if she
inspected the toilets at the
International airports! Most of
us, including our planners and
leaders, came from the
culture of latrines.
In the villages, latrines are
where you did dirty business.
They were, therefore,
constructed a distant from the
house, hidden from sight. In
the cities, they occupied the
back of the yard so that the
night soil men could carry on
their business unseen.
Then urbanisation turned
latrines into toilets and they
could be incorporated into the
house. It became fashionable
to have toilets in-suite, that is,
inside the bedroom. The
world has since moved from
toilets to restrooms. At
international airports today
you could shower, shave,
change clothes and feed
babies in restrooms.
Restrooms and not latrines
What we have at our
international airports are not
even up to the standards of
toilets. At Murtala Muhammed
International Airport, Ikeja,
they are worse than latrines.
They are all shallow
swimming pools. Water is on
the floor instead of inside the
water closets.
The water closets are broken.
They hardly flush. They stink
like latrines. The toilet rolls
are kept by the cleaner who
dispenses them to users for
exchange of tips. At the local
wing, one of the female
cleaners, utterly shameless,
once ran after me: “Oga you
want toilet roll?”
I shouted back at her: “Do
you want to help me unzip
and probably hold my thing
while I urinate?” She scurried
away. That did not stop her
from reminding me as I came
out: “Oga we dey here O!”
At the Nnamdi Azikiwe
International Airport, the
toilets cannot accommodate
three people without their
brushing against one another.
At the local arrival, only two
people at a time can manage
the toilet. I try not to take any
liquid in the flight to avoid
having to queue for the use of
the toilet on arrival!
At the Sam Mbakwe
International Cargo Airport,
the word for the toilets is,
disgrace! The questions that
constantly prey my mind are,
why do we shortchange
ourselves? Why do we do this
to ourselves? Why do we love
planning for insufficiency?
What is it in the head of our
leaders that makes them
confine us to backwardness?
Where did we get this kiosk
mentality?
I noticed that there is
reconstruction or
refurbishment going on at
some of these airports,
including the Abuja airport.
The local airlines have been
relocated to the international
wing. This exercise has shown
that the so-called
international wing is even
inadequate for the local
flights.
The international wing is
shared into cubicles for the
local airlines and the agony of
passengers is further
aggravated. But we can
endure it if the understanding
is that at the end of the
exercise we would have user
friendly airports.
I don’t know the scope of
work at the Abuja airport,
whether it involves
expansion. If it does not aim
at the ease and convenience
for processing passengers,
then, the exercise would be
another waste of money.
I do not know if the Federal
Government is undertaking
the reconstruction jobs going
on at some of these airports.
If it is, then the question is
what has become of the talk
about concessioning of the
airports? Has the plan been
abandoned? Why? Politics?
Whether we like it or not, the
only sensible direction for our
economy is privatization.
Most of the things that work
overseas and for which we
drain our foreign exchange to
go and enjoy are in private
hands. The airports should be
concesssioned while the
Federal Government
prescribes and regulates the
minimum standards of
operation without such
regulation amounting to
infliction of nuisance by civil
servants.
What we have today as
International airports at Abuja
and Ikeja should be the
minimum standards for local
airports. And only private
funds can provide that.
Whether an airport or road is
build and operated by
Chinese or Japanese, it will
still be on our soil and
providing jobs!
My friend Otunba Segun
Runsewe at the National
Tourist Development Board is
talking tough about making
Nigeria a tourism hub. I have
heard the talk about Nigeria
being the aviation hub of
West Africa. There is the talk
of financial hub, investment
hub and shipping hub.
All these hubs need
seriousness in providing the
facilities that make our
country user friendly. Last
week, we were rated 135
among 138 countries where it
is very difficult to do business,
that is, counties considered
user unfriendly.
We must remember that
whenever we talk about
investment the operative
word is “attract” investment.
This presupposes that an
investor is not Red Cross. You
have to “attract” him. That is,
you must make the prospect
of investing in your country
more attractive than
competing options like
acquisition and mergers
readily available in his clime.
With so much to do in the
Aviation industry to get it up
to standards acceptable, I am
surprised that the Minister of
Aviation is preoccupying
herself with the distraction of
floating another national
carrier. No matter who is
selling her that idea, she
should perish the thought.
It is a scam. She has said that
the Federal Government
would not invest a kobo in the
project. Then, why is it her
business? Whatever goodwill
the Federal Government will
invest in such a project should
better be extended to any two
of the Nigerian airlines
struggling to keep our flag out
there. Like what she did for
Arik to get it flying Abuja-
Heathrow again.
British Airways planes have
the Union Jack colour at their
tails. British Airways is NOT
owned by British Government.
Virgin Atlantic is owned by
former drummer boy, Sir
Richard Branson, not by the
British Government.
The Honourable Minister
should find out what the
British Government does to
help these airlines to
represent everything British
and do same for our private
airlines. But first, she should
give us airports that represent
what we truly think of
ourselves as a people.

www.vanguardngr.com/2012/02/our-airports-windows-to-our-disgrace/

chuks49:

By Pini Jason
LAST week, the Minister for
Trade and Investment, Mr.
Olusegun Aganga, was
meeting with some
stakeholders in trade and
investment, and I presume,
some investors too. As usual
the issue of cost of doing
business in Nigeria came up.
And as usual, the clichéd
promise Nigerian government
officials make to investors
was generously made. As I
watched this formality go on, I
wondered if the Honourable
Minister himself appreciates
how unfriendly the
investment climate in Nigeria
is.
To put it mildly, it is a crime
to want to invest in Nigeria,
unless you have your eyes on
such soft targets like
petroleum subsidy! But first,
let us consider the arrival of
an investor into Nigeria.
You probably have noticed
that nobody is talking
stridently about the 20:2020
any more. Ask yourself, which
country that wishes to be one
of the 20 biggest economies
in the world in the year 2020
would build itself cubicles for
international airports?
I have said it once here that
Nigeria is a very user
unfriendly country. Thus, our
airports are the most user
unfriendly airports in the
world! At our airports, it is
push- push, shove-shove. This
is a product of our makeshift
and potakabin mentality. We
have a small country, Third
World, we-are-not-ready-for-
it, concept of ourselves.
Processing passengers
through our so-called
international airports is a
torture. It is characterised by
pushing, shoving and
confusion such that, often,
passengers forget their
valuables at the screening
point. I would have thought
that adequate space helps in
thorough screening of
passengers.
Space is itself part of security.
Our Red and Green channels
are actually not channels.
There is no channel behind
which customs officers could
observe the behaviour of
passengers. They are just red
and green markings on the
exits!
You may not like it if I said
that you can put the Murtala
Muhammed International
Airport and the Nnamdi
Azikiwe International Airport
inside Terminal Five of
Heathrow Airport and still
have a space for Aminu Kano
International Airport. But let
us go to the Kotoka
International Airport, Accra.
I used that airport for the first
time in December 1976. I
used it again in November
2008. I can tell you that no
expansion work had taken
place there. This is because it
was a cavernous airport from
day one. It was built with a
sight to the future! Here the
popular excuse is, we will get
there! With the money we
throw around, we should be
arriving at certain
destinations in our
development efforts!
Vision into the future
At the time the so-called
international airports at Ikeja
was constructed, we had
enough money and space to
construct an airport that
mirrored our vision for the
future, but we cheated on
ourselves! Our planners at
that time were people with
stunted vision and could not
see beyond their nose.
The Murtala Mohammed
International airport mistake
was repeated at Abuja. We
took off with a makeshift
Nnamdi Azikiwe International
airport that later became the
local wing while we built yet
another cubicle called
international wing.
I wonder if our planners and
those who accept the silly
designs their foreign
consultants give them
understand the health need
always imperceptibly
incorporated into airport
designs. In most flights you sit
for a minimum of six hours
with no more exercise than
walking along the cabin isle or
using the toilet.
Most of the frequent fliers are
senior citizens. Thus, in major
international airports in
civilised world, where people
do not cheat on themselves
or steal from themselves,
apart from providing ample
space for airport handlings,
deliberate effort is made to
provide for the health of
travellers.
You walk a long distance from
the plane to the immigration,
within which time you get
circulation back to nearly
swelling legs and get your
heart pumping again.
In some airports like Oliver
Thambo International in
Johannesburg, some portions
of the stretch to the
immigration hall are raised to
task the heart a bit. But here
we have airports where you
are made to jump from the
plane to immigration hall and
hop down to baggage claim
area where you push and
shove and quack at one
another with creaking trolleys
as if in a wheel chair game!
And yet some racketeers
charge you for trolleys and
N1000 for service charge in a
most user unfriendly airport in
the world! The only friendly
thing you get is: “oga we are
loyal o!” Or “oga wetin you
chop remain?”
If you are waiting for or
seeing off a passenger in any
of our airports you have to
stay outside in the sun or rain.
Our local airlines make you
come to the airport two hour
before departure because
checking in a war. There is no
guarantee that the flight will
take off on schedule or that
checking in would begin as
soon as you arrive.
Inside the checking in area,
there are no seats even for an
elderly passenger to rest his
or her legs before checking in.
If she has heavy loads,
relations are not allowed to
help her to the checking in
counter, which is not a
restricted area.
She must pay for airport
porters. If you think that this
has anything to do with
security, then somebody has
to go back to security school.
The clever idea is to keep
people to the barest minimum
in a cubicle that is not enough
for passengers.
The Honourable Minister of
Aviation, Mrs. Stella Odua, on
assumption of office,
undertook an inspection tour
of major airports in the
country. I wonder if she
inspected the toilets at the
International airports! Most of
us, including our planners and
leaders, came from the
culture of latrines.
In the villages, latrines are
where you did dirty business.
They were, therefore,
constructed a distant from the
house, hidden from sight. In
the cities, they occupied the
back of the yard so that the
night soil men could carry on
their business unseen.
Then urbanisation turned
latrines into toilets and they
could be incorporated into the
house. It became fashionable
to have toilets in-suite, that is,
inside the bedroom. The
world has since moved from
toilets to restrooms. At
international airports today
you could shower, shave,
change clothes and feed
babies in restrooms.
Restrooms and not latrines
What we have at our
international airports are not
even up to the standards of
toilets. At Murtala Muhammed
International Airport, Ikeja,
they are worse than latrines.
They are all shallow
swimming pools. Water is on
the floor instead of inside the
water closets.
The water closets are broken.
They hardly flush. They stink
like latrines. The toilet rolls
are kept by the cleaner who
dispenses them to users for
exchange of tips. At the local
wing, one of the female
cleaners, utterly shameless,
once ran after me: “Oga you
want toilet roll?”
I shouted back at her: “Do
you want to help me unzip
and probably hold my thing
while I urinate?” She scurried
away. That did not stop her
from reminding me as I came
out: “Oga we dey here O!”
At the Nnamdi Azikiwe
International Airport, the
toilets cannot accommodate
three people without their
brushing against one another.
At the local arrival, only two
people at a time can manage
the toilet. I try not to take any
liquid in the flight to avoid
having to queue for the use of
the toilet on arrival!
At the Sam Mbakwe
International Cargo Airport,
the word for the toilets is,
disgrace! The questions that
constantly prey my mind are,
why do we shortchange
ourselves? Why do we do this
to ourselves? Why do we love
planning for insufficiency?
What is it in the head of our
leaders that makes them
confine us to backwardness?
Where did we get this kiosk
mentality?
I noticed that there is
reconstruction or
refurbishment going on at
some of these airports,
including the Abuja airport.
The local airlines have been
relocated to the international
wing. This exercise has shown
that the so-called
international wing is even
inadequate for the local
flights.
The international wing is
shared into cubicles for the
local airlines and the agony of
passengers is further
aggravated. But we can
endure it if the understanding
is that at the end of the
exercise we would have user
friendly airports.
I don’t know the scope of
work at the Abuja airport,
whether it involves
expansion. If it does not aim
at the ease and convenience
for processing passengers,
then, the exercise would be
another waste of money.
I do not know if the Federal
Government is undertaking
the reconstruction jobs going
on at some of these airports.
If it is, then the question is
what has become of the talk
about concessioning of the
airports? Has the plan been
abandoned? Why? Politics?
Whether we like it or not, the
only sensible direction for our
economy is privatization.
Most of the things that work
overseas and for which we
drain our foreign exchange to
go and enjoy are in private
hands. The airports should be
concesssioned while the
Federal Government
prescribes and regulates the
minimum standards of
operation without such
regulation amounting to
infliction of nuisance by civil
servants.
What we have today as
International airports at Abuja
and Ikeja should be the
minimum standards for local
airports. And only private
funds can provide that.
Whether an airport or road is
build and operated by
Chinese or Japanese, it will
still be on our soil and
providing jobs!
My friend Otunba Segun
Runsewe at the National
Tourist Development Board is
talking tough about making
Nigeria a tourism hub. I have
heard the talk about Nigeria
being the aviation hub of
West Africa. There is the talk
of financial hub, investment
hub and shipping hub.
All these hubs need
seriousness in providing the
facilities that make our
country user friendly. Last
week, we were rated 135
among 138 countries where it
is very difficult to do business,
that is, counties considered
user unfriendly.
We must remember that
whenever we talk about
investment the operative
word is “attract” investment.
This presupposes that an
investor is not Red Cross. You
have to “attract” him. That is,
you must make the prospect
of investing in your country
more attractive than
competing options like
acquisition and mergers
readily available in his clime.
With so much to do in the
Aviation industry to get it up
to standards acceptable, I am
surprised that the Minister of
Aviation is preoccupying
herself with the distraction of
floating another national
carrier. No matter who is
selling her that idea, she
should perish the thought.
It is a scam. She has said that
the Federal Government
would not invest a kobo in the
project. Then, why is it her
business? Whatever goodwill
the Federal Government will
invest in such a project should
better be extended to any two
of the Nigerian airlines
struggling to keep our flag out
there. Like what she did for
Arik to get it flying Abuja-
Heathrow again.
British Airways planes have
the Union Jack colour at their
tails. British Airways is NOT
owned by British Government.
Virgin Atlantic is owned by
former drummer boy, Sir
Richard Branson, not by the
British Government.
The Honourable Minister
should find out what the
British Government does to
help these airlines to
represent everything British
and do same for our private
airlines. But first, she should
give us airports that represent
what we truly think of
ourselves as a people.

www.vanguardngr.com/2012/02/our-airports-windows-to-our-disgrace/

This is what i call a skyscraper

I get pictures plenty-plenty.
Make I close from work.

Crude oil does not show at all in Nigeria.
It might as well be given to another country who would put the monies earned to good use.