On a visit to our airports on any day, one cannot fail to behold the unedifying sight of uniformed personnel of all the services stationed there, resorting to one type of unwholesome behaviour or the other.
It is either they are poorly clad, flaunting firearms in their possession and care, or they are often found to be engaged in loutish behaviour, constituting a nuisance to the public.
But by far the most embarrassing and dangerous behaviour uniformed personnel at airports without exception often engage in, is the open begging and soliciting for favours and gratification from passengers. In this regard, it is a common sight at our airports to see uniformed personnel throwing caution, decorum and the discipline of their training to the wind to aggressively approach passengers for money and other favours at virtually all points at the airports. And sometimes, it is done stylishly through excessive and needless greetings and trying to provide help where it is very unnecessary.
At the root of the issue is the proliferation of uniformed personnel representing various institutions, following the expansion of services at the airports. The expansion of airline passengers over the years in Nigeria has been a consequence of many factors namely; need for security of travel in view of the dangers associated with road travel, rise in median incomes among Nigerians, and need for educational, leisure and health travel by Nigerians. The relative improvements in infrastructure and services at the airports have also contributed in the boom in travel by Nigerians.
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Accompanying these developments has been the need to provide security and ancillary services at the airports to cope with this boom. Hence, apart from the usual military personnel from the various services who secure the airports against security threats, there are also specialised services like the Nigeria Police, Customs, Immigration and State Security Services and agents of the Nigeria Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) who perform duties that are necessary to control exit and entry of persons into the country as well as the goods imported and exported.
The problem, therefore, is not about whether these uniformed personnel representing these services at the airport are needed there. As passengers and the entire Nigerian public have come to observe, the problem is the menace of begging prevalent among these uniformed personnel without exception at the airports.
In the first instance, this unwholesome practice diminishes not just the services these personnel represent, but their self-esteem as persons expected to wear the uniform with dignity and honour. Not to mention the embarrassment it causes the country, especially when they accost foreigners in that manner.
Secondly, it stands to reason that being selected or posted to serve at the airport, which is a major point of entry into the country, uniformed personnel is considered well trained and deserving of such posting. Such persons are, therefore, expected to showcase the best sense of professional behaviour before visitors whose first impression of the country will likely be formed at contact with such uniformed personnel.
It is indeed a matter of great concern that cases of begging by our uniformed personnel not only at our airports but at various entry and exit points have reached such a level that tends to demean the country before foreign visitors. The most disturbing aspect of this behaviour is that those involved have come to see it as a right and now engage in it without shame.
It is unfortunate that our airports and other entry points which ought to be manned by the most professionally vigilant men and women have now been turned into a bazaar where acts of extortion in form of begging and gratification in cash and kind take place wantonly.
The time has come for the authorities to come together to tackle this issue before further damage could be done to both the security and image of the country. How effectively can a personnel carry out the duty of preventing contraband items from gaining access into the country when he/she is seeking gratification from the courier of such item. Something definitely must give and in this instance; the security of the country.
Accordingly, we call on the federal ministries of Aviation and Transportation as supervising institutions of the airports and entry points into the country in conjunction with military institutions, and paramilitary service agencies whose personnel are deployed to these entry points to come together to review the rules of engagement. This calls for reorientation and retraining of personnel that are posted to the airports and other entry points.
They should be made to understand that the country’s entry points are specially designated areas where the security and image of the country must be the utmost consideration in their duties. It is, therefore, required of them to be at the highest possible standards of professional behaviour which permit no room for begging and other forms of activities incompatible with their terms of deployment to those places. Anything short of that is unacceptable to Nigerians. Also, anyone found in this practice must not only be redeployed, but the institution which he or she represents must ensure the personnel is duly sanctioned. We must restore sanity at our airports.
