Ime Akpan
On March 22, 2022, President Muhammadu Buhari was in Lagos to commission the newly-built Terminal 2 at the international wing of the Murtala Muhammed Airport.
The new terminal has the capacity to process 14 million passengers per annum. It has 66 check-in counters, five baggage collection carousels, 16 immigration desks at arrival, 28 desks at departure, eight security screening points, six passenger boarding bridges with remote boarding and arrival.
Other facilities include two food courts, four premium lounges, 22 guest rooms and spars, 16 airline ticketing offices, visa on arrival and port health facility, praying areas, more than 3,000sqm duty free spaces and over 5,000sqm let-table utility spaces.
As expected of the visit of such a political parsonage, all the security arrangements were put in place with the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) issuing travel advisory to motorists and airport users.
Guests arrived at the airport as early as 8am; some said they got there 6am for the programme that was slated for 10am. Buhari also had another engagement in Lagos that same day. That was the commissioning of urea and ammonia fertiliser plant, Lekki, owned by Africa’s richest man, Mr. Aliko Dangote. The plant, believed to be the biggest of its kind in the world and combined with a 650,000 barrels per day oil refinery standing within its vicinity, will cost Dangote $17.5 billion.
It was expected that the president would perform his first assignment in Lekki and hop into his chopper and land at the Lagos Airport for the commissioning of the terminal, give or take 11am. But that was never the case as the Lekki outing seemed to have been programmed to slow motion mode.
As early as 9am, the important guests were already seated. They included the minister of aviation, Mr. Hadi Sirika; two former MDs of FAAN, Messrs Saleh Dunoma and Richard Aisuebeogun; chairmen of the senate and house committees on aviation, Messrs Smart Adeyemi and Nnolim Nnaji, airline chief executives, aviation agency heads, and Chinese diplomatic and business communities. The governor of Lagos State and his deputy, Messrs Babajide Sanwo-Olu and Babafemi Hamzat, among others were also present.
I never knew that FAAN has its in-house orchestra until that beautiful Tuesday, thanks to the Mr. Victor Oche and Ms. Omotayo who compered the proceedings. I had all along thought that FAAN was only concerned with airport business; little did I know that it has the ‘showbiz’ department to shore up its IGR. Omotosho used the occasion to advertise the outfit by informing that the band was also for hire.
The all-blue wearing band conducted by a lady began to entertain the audience who were housed in two well-decorated canopies. They reeled out timeless tunes including Christy Essien Igboke’s ‘omo mi seun rere’, Victor Olaiya’s ‘omo pupa’, Bobby Benson’s ‘taxi driver’, Sonny Okosun’s ‘Ogoo Yi (Oluwa Mase Jee Ko Baje).’ The band did not leave out contemporary artistes like Olamide ‘Shakiti Bobo’ Gbenga Adedeji, known professionally as Olamide. Equally, the audience was treated to ancient and contemporary Christian hymns and songs.
While the band performed and waiting continued, a staff in the public affairs department of FAAN, Mrs. Ijeoma Nwosu-Igbo, wearing Onyeka Onwenu’s hair style with a generous grey hair around the forehead, sauntered into the arena.
Nwosu-Igbo who walked in from the VIP stand became the cynosure of the people around as she began to do Mandela dance to the music. Interestingly, she sang along with the band. When she was through with her ‘performance’, the elegant lady walked into the journalists’ stand and exchanged pleasantries with many she is familiar with. I overheard her telling the former chairman of the League of Airport and Aviation Correspondents (LAAC), Mr. Chukwemeke Iwelunmo “as old as I am, I take only soda to keep me going.” Little wonder her trim and shapely figure.
At 11.43am, the MC announced that the president was on his way to the airport. He did not also forget to state that his “entourage is huge.”
However, the event dragged on and before anyone knew it, tiredness set in. To the extent that those on the high table began to doze off. The situation was further worsened by extremely searing heat from the tropical sun. Everything in the arena began to protest. The mist fans placed at the corners of the silk-roofed canopies began to blow hot air. Dehydration set in. There was no water to drink. The airport environment is not like a motor park where one could get things easily. Leaving Terminal 2 to buy water at the airport motor park means one would have to walk for one kilometre. Some who were extremely thirsty, like the deer in Psalm 42:1 ferreted around for even the leftover water that was served in the morning.
It was at that point that I noticed a show of love as some who had a bottle of water in their bags share with about five people. I gave mine to a colleague whose condition was very dire, like a deer panting for water!
Around 3pm, a consignment of bottled water surfaced from only God-knows-where. Old boy, come and see how people scrambled for the commodity. It was the survival of the fittest. Those who were unable to get any hoped that another batch would be delivered. But it never happened.
I got tired of watching the news features on the television screen mounted at strategic places in the shed. The band was at that time playing some soulful tunes. I turned around and looked for Nwosu-Igbo hoping she would take to the floor so that I could feast my eyes. Alas, she had gone; her seat was empty. What a disappointment!
The ‘waiting for Godot’ continued and I observed the tiredness and confusion in the comperes. After exhausting the contents of their scripts, Oche had to re-introduce the guests who were already seated and re-greeted them.
Omotosho, on her part, announced that the president had given money to buy a conveyor belt to replace a malfunctioned one. According to her, a friend who lives in London had sent a video showing a dilapidated carousel. She reported that she put a call through to the managing director of FAAN informing him about the ugly development. She said the FAAN chief replied saying “my sister that will be a thing of the past. Mr. President has given some money to replace the conveyor belt.” Someone sitting behind me was scandalised by the information which made him say “This is not the way to be sycophantic. Must the president give money for a conveyor belt? One day he will give money to replace a toilet seat.”
Finally, the president arrived around 3.45pm. After observing the protocols, speech presentations began. And the president spoke last. All the print, radio and online reporters present clustered round a loud speaker placed outside the canopy to record the president’s speech.
At the end of the event, we retired to our press centre to write the story. None of the journalists could transcribe five paragraphs of the president’s speech. It was herculean to pick his words. Thinking that the president delivered his speech in Hausa language, we contracted Auchi-born Suleiman Idris who works for Blueprint and speaks the language better than Afemai or Etsako! He, too, could not pick a word from what the president said. Yunus Yusuf of NAN was also at a loss.
It was a struggle writing the story. What saved the day for us was that someone got the soft copy of the speech and sent to us. Looking at the president’s speech and that of the minister of aviation, Mr. Hadi Sirika, I don’t know who rank Xeroxed from the other. There were substantial similarities. If it were in the Senior Secondary School Certificate Examination (SSCE), The West African Examinations Council (WAEC) or National Examinations Council (NECO) would have withheld the results of both ‘candidates’ for ‘cheating’!
