Tempers rise as outage cripples flight operations at MMIA

Tempers rose at the Murtala Mohammed International Airport, on Friday, as air passengers condemned outage at the Murtala Mohammed International Airport, Ikeja, Lagos, which disrupted operations for hours, the same day.


The passengers, who lamented that they were unable to book for tickets and board flights, added that lack of power supply to the airport’s central internet server disrupted booking of tickets and subsequent boarding of passengers.

Consequently, the departure lounge was said to have got rowdy with the large number of passengers stranded there.

A generator, which was reportedly put on by the management to alternatively supply electricity could not power all the gadgets and equipment at the airport.

One of the passengers, Mr. Gbenga Fayemiwo, who was to fly to the United Kingdom, told newsmen  that he had been stranded at the airport for over three hours.

He said, “I’ve been stranded here for the past three hours, sitting to get a ticket to the UK. We can’t book or board and it has really been frustrating.”

Another passenger, who was also expected to leave for the UK on Friday afternoon, Akinmade Odunayo, said, “It’s becoming rowdy; what we were told was that the generator cannot power all the gadgets at the airport. Many of us have been waiting here for hours.

“The generator is not connected to the central internet server, which means that airlines cannot book or board passengers.”

However, experts in the aviation industry have condemned the incident, describing it as an embarrassment to the country.

The former Managing Director, Capital Airlines, Mr. Amos Akpan, said there was no excuse for having an outage at the airport, adding that officials responsible for the incident should be sanctioned.

He said, “It is compulsory to have light round the clock at the airport so it is gross negligence to not have light. This is not an act of God. This is a human controlled programme because we know that Nigeria has epileptic power supply.”

However in a phone conversation with reporters, the General Manager, Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria, Yakubu Dati, denied that there was power outage at the airport on Friday, saying the reports could have been formulated.

He said, “There was nothing like that. That’s why it’s good to verify things like this; you know that at this time, people are looking for negative things to say about us.”

In his reaction, the Head of Research, Zenith Aviation, Olumide Ohunayo, described the incident as a “national shame.”