A new policy introduced by the Federal
Airports Authority of Nigeria for passengers coming into the country to
pay a special charge on their luggage has become a source of dilemma for
travellers.
A lot of passengers, who came into the
country on Monday, were stranded at the Murtala Muhammed International
Airport, Lagos as they could...
not retrieve their luggage on time.
Some of the passengers, who spoke to our
correspondent, alleged that their baggage had been deliberately
delayed, adding that they were also maltreated by the security personnel
at the arrival hall of the airport, claiming that they were acting on
FAAN’s instruction.
For instance, a passenger who gave his
name simply as Simon, and came into the country aboard an Emirate
airline flight from Dubai, said he spent about five hours at the arrival
hall before he could collect his luggage.
He said, “I was surprised to note that
some of our luggage were being held by officials at the arrival hall,
who refused to release them to us, stating that we had to pay N2,000 per
luggage on arrival at the airport.
“The amazing thing is that we learnt
that FAAN gave an order that the amount should be levied on cargoes that
come through the terminal, but our pleas to the officials that some of
our luggage could not be classified as cargoes fell on deaf ears.”
Another passenger, who chose to remain
anonymous, said as of 4pm, a lot of passengers had yet to retrieve their
luggage despite arriving some hours earlier.
He explained that the information they
got was that the airport authorities had kept the luggage in their
custody because the owners were meant to pay duties on them.
“As a result, you can see how rowdy and
chaotic this whole place is; the fact is that we have been travelling
for many hours, only for us to touch down and see this kind of thing; it
is really a sad experience,” he said.
However, the General Manager, Corporate
Communications, FAAN, Mr. Yakubu Dati, denied claims that the agency was
charging passengers N2,000 on each luggage.
Dati said in a statement, “The charge
does not apply to all passengers but to cargo agents who use passenger
planes to transport their cargoes, often times 20 to 30 pieces of
luggage unaccompanied or accompanied by proxies.
“This fraudulent practice mounts untold
pressure on our conveyor belts and short-changes FAAN of its much needed
revenue. Cargo agents are well aware that all cargoes must go through
the designated cargo terminal where they go through laid down processes
for safety and security procedures.
“The fact of the matter is that some
passengers arrived with cargoes, which they should have passed as
cargoes through the cargo terminal, but instead wanted to pass same as
mere luggage and FAAN decided to charge them the cargo fee, which is a
normal charge that is done with receipts.
“We wish to stress that it was not the
passengers’ luggage that was charged, but cargo, as the affected
passengers arrived with an average of eight bags of cargo. The
passengers should have passed the cargoes through the cargo terminal
instead of coming with them.”
He explained that the charge on cargoes
was not new, adding that “the charge has always been in FAAN’s books and
was part of the fees collected by the concessionaire, Pan Express
Limited. But now, FAAN has decided to collect the charge and there is no
need mixing it up with luggage.”
“The authority wishes to reiterate the
earlier warning to cargo agents to desist from this unwholesome practice
or face the full wrath of the law as no form of blackmail will deter us
from carrying out our mandate of providing services at internationally
acceptable standards and practices,” Dati added.
-Punch
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