Stories by Louis Ibah

  

Established as a unit in the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), the Murtala Muhammed Airport Vehicle Towing Services was, at its conceptualization, assigned the duty of acting like road safety marshal for the Lagos airport. The Lagos airport processes about 65 per cent of passenger traffic recorded in all of Nigeria’s airports and that comes with a challenge of managing the vehicles that bring in and drop-off these passengers.

The vehicle towing services therefore was to ease vehicular traffic along the roads leading to the domestic and international terminals of the Lagos airport as well as within the two airport terminals, by towing any broken-down or spoilt vehicles that obstructed traffic flow to a place where the owner could get it fixed. It was also to tow any vehicle that had been abandoned by its owner or wrongly parked in such a way that it obstructs traffic. However, where such vehicles still had its drivers inside as at the time the operators of the towing-trucks arrive, they were politely asked to move their vehicles to allow smooth traffic flow. Only cars that were abandoned and whose owners could not be found and those that resisted orders to move their cars that were towed. A fine was usually imposed on such defaulters to serve as a deterrent to them and others. Indeed, at the early stage of the agency or unit (in the 90s), it was an agency admired and applauded by airport users.

Impunity

However, in the 2000s, a regime of concessioning of the Lagos airport commenced with the MMA2 terminal taken over by Bi-Courtney Aviation Limited in 2007. This was followed by the concessioning of tollgates, car parks, fuel dumps, eateries/ canteens, and the vehicle-towing units, among others. The idea was to allow FAAN focus on its core mandate of managing the landside and airside of the airport.

“I have been driving guests from a hotel in Ikeja to the airport for the past 15years. I started from using my private car and now I work under Uber.  And I can say that concessioning, especially as it concerns the towing of vehicles within the Lagos airport marked the age of impunity,” said cab driver, Noah Babatunde.

“Those who won the bid to clear the airport of wrongly parked vehicles were also given a specific target of amount to deliver monthly. And in a bid to meet up this target and also make their own profit, they resorted to all sorts of gimmicks that negate civility; they engaged in all sorts of vices that definitely work against the corporate image of the airport and that of FAAN,” added Babatunde.

He explained that from the previous practice of politely asking vehicle drivers to clear off the road and allow traffic move, the current vehicle towing operators, would instead pounce on any stationary vehicle that they sight within the airport premises.

No warning, no caution

Outside the arrival and departure sections of the airport where you are likely to get security officials directing traffic and giving you some few minutes to park to drop or pick up  passengers, bringing a vehicle to a stop for whatever reason elsewhere within the Lagos airport attracts no warning but sanctions. It is one airport that is very unfriendly to first time motorists who are not abreast with the law. 

There are however “No parking, No Waiting” signposts erected at various locations at the airports to warn car owners against running foul of the law. That is like the written law governing driving at the Lagos airport. It is what is used to pass judgement on erring motorists.  It doesn’t matter if one saw the sign or not. Once inside the Lagos airport premises, you are supposed to be alert and very observant of these signposts. Some are placed in conspicuous positions, while other are not very conspicuous. First time visitors or drivers (out of ignorance) are often the greatest victims or defaulters of the law. Their ignorance is not an excuse. And staff of towing agencies are always quick to point out the signs to these defaulters..  Ironically, some of the signs are placed at bus stops, where its interpretations usually pose some ambiguity to vehicle drivers. Some private vehicle owners told Daily Sun that even a one second wait could lead to a vehicle being towed. So, does it imply that at the Lagos airport drivers can’t even wait to drop-off or pick up a person at the bus stops?

“These days, it doesn’t matter whether the car is spoilt and you need some seconds to halt and fix it with a caution sign displayed, or the driver is inside the car and has not even been asked to move the car and he refused,” said Mark Otu, who told Daily Sun his car was towed at the Bisam Bus Stop along the Airport Road where he had waited for a few seconds for a friend to cross over from the opposite direction to join him.

“Once they see a car that is slowing down or stationary or veers off into any of the bus stops within the airport, they quickly overtake it and clamp down the tyres and get it towed. They will then slam you a fine that ranges from N10,000 to N15, 000. Sometimes they start with N25, 000.

“It happened to me. I waited for a few seconds for a friend to cross over the median and join me. They saw me when I slowed down and they saw my friend clearly as he crossed over. And there was no other vehicle at the bus stop and so I was obstructing no one. But they blocked my car, refused to listen to my own side of the story. It is something that they had the prerogative to say “please drive on’. But instead they were very aggressive. All they were after was to tow the car away.

“And you could see the hunger and the desperation in them to get you pay something, even if it is N5, 000.  It became too obvious to me that the major aim is not to take-out vehicles that clog traffic, but rather to generate revenue. And it is this new inordinate drive for revenue that makes this agency act in the most horrible and shameful manner,” added Otu,

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Rickety trucks

For an airport that has repeatedly been ranked among the worst in the world, the rickety sight of the towing trucks used by the concessionaires certainly does not help ongoing efforts to correct that poor ranking. One is even tempted to ask where all the revenue generated from this agency over the years goes to, given the archaic nature and gory sight of their major worktool – the towing trucks.

Edward Akpan who had an experience with the agency said his car bumper was badly damaged by one of the rickety trucks while being towed. It is an experience reported by so many drivers who have had their cars towed over the last two years.

“The trucks they use are like objects in a museum; old, rickety, and filthy,” said Akpan.

“My driver saw some cars parked near the FAAN secondary school, and I joined them. I wanted to visit NAMA. But immediately they saw that my car had been brought to a halt, they launched out like armed robbers. I was frightened. They blocked my car and brought out their towing equipment. They wore no uniforms; so poorly dressed, looking haggard, I thought they were touts.

“I was so scared. They told me the place was not a car park. I asked them what about the cars parked here? They said they belong to staff. I told them I didn’t know about that and that it was my first visit to that part of the airport. I asked them where I could park? They gave no reply. I was ready to move the car to a car park and pay. But in both their speech and conduct, it was obvious that they were rent seekers.

I had to tread softly with them so I don’t get hurt. Where they took me to, I had to bargain on the price of the fine. They damaged my bumper.  And I ended up paying N10, 000 fine to get off their hook. No caution; no assistance; no direction. I have never seen something like that in any airport in the world that I have driven into” added Akpan.

Daily Sun learnt that at the root of the problem is the huge monthly monetary remittance which vehicle towing concessionaires make to FAAN.

“They remit as much as N10million monthly to FAAN and also have to generate their own revenue outside what they remit to FAAN. What that means is that they have to do anything within their limits to generate the money, even if it means their actions hurting the image of the airport and also continuously making the Lagos airport most unfriendly to visitors” an industry source told Daily Sun. 

Bribery and corruption

Some drivers have also reported the prevalence of corruption among staff of the vehicle-towing firms. According to a motorist who gave his name as Eze C. Eze,  his car was blocked at the Concord Bus stop along the Airport Road while making a right turn to drive into the road leading to the Airport Labour Union building.

“They blocked my car and wanted to tow it and I demanded to know why and they said I was driving on an illegal route.  But I knew I wasn’t. They acted like hungry lions released from a cage to haunt for prey,” said Eze.

“When I told them that that part of the airport premises was neither a terminal building nor the Airport Road and that I obstructed no traffic, they became very temperamental and wanted to beat me up. They knew they were wrong. But I sensed that they wanted to intimidate me and extort money from me. When I prevented them from towing my car, one of them called me aside and asked for bribe. He said I should pay them N5, 000 and that if they towed my car to their garage, it would be difficult for me to prove any case against them, and that I would pay more.

“It was only when others who watched the scene came closer and spoke on my behalf that they let me go. It was this same conduct among Vehicle Inspection Officers that led to their ban in Lagos.  Because the image of the Lagos airport is badly damaged by the action of these people, it has become important for relevant regulatory agencies to step in speedily and get this unit reformed.”

There is no other airport in Nigeria where vehicles that develops fault along the road, or the driver slows down or veers off the road to an allotted bus stop cited also along the airport road to temporary take a call ends up having his vehicle towed away and heavily fined.