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Recently, the parking rate at the Multi-Storey Car Park at the Murtala Muhammed Airport Terminal 2 (MMA2), operated by Bi-Courtney Aviation Services Limited (BASL) and managed by Balosh, was arbitrarily increased. Overnight parking, which used to be six thousand naira (N6,000) only, was increased to fifty thousand naira (N50,000) only. What is the mathematical rationale for this type of increase?
In 2021, Balosh, the company managing the toll system within the
airport, was engaged by the Lagos State Government and Lagos State University
Teaching Hospital (LASUTH), and it almost resorted into a crisis within the
hospital premises because one would not be able to explain the rationale for
having a patient in the hospital, and one would be charged for car park.
Nigerians are unable to commute by road, train, or even the waterways.
Despite the rising cost of all modes of commuting, one is now confronted with
an unjustified increase in airport parking rates.
With the rising cost of house rent cum accommodation in Lagos, people
have moved to various suburbs of Lagos. When they have a reason to travel, the
most cost-effective option is to get their vehicle to the airport, park it,
travel to their destination, and return to their vehicle to get home within 3-4
days. When it was N6,000, everyone assumed that it was affordable and safe to
keep their cars at the airport. Similar to what happens at the jetties and
train station.
The rising cost of JetA1 has been attributed to the rising cost of air
ticket which is almost beyond the reach of an average Nigerian; the rising cost
of PMS (Petrol) at this time when Iran and US war is ongoing has made people
abandoned their cars while app hailing taxi services are ‘cutting’ people’s
heads off while the regular airport taxi call unfriendly rates to the already
overtaxed Nigerian that has not gotten an increase in salary despite the
galloping inflation.
Further rationalising this increase, it seems that the airport authority
is now competing with the airlines- if one can afford a N300,000 return ticket,
then one can also afford a N150,000 for a three-day parking at the airport.
This is not a fair deal for Nigerian travellers who are working hard to travel
by air, given the imminent fear of what could go wrong on the road.
Can one liken the increase to a collaboration between the taxi unions
and the airport to rip people off of their hard-earned money? What this means
is that for anyone who cannot afford parking at the airport, you will be forced
to use a taxi that is ‘seemingly’ above the law, which is in connivance with
the private operator of the airport. The enforcement team at MM2 would never
clamp taxis, but they aim at private vehicles that are forced to use the car
park, regardless of how many minutes one wants to use at the airport.
Beyond the exorbitant rate introduced by the airport operator for the
car park, they are also on the case of on-demand, multi-category delivery
platform riders who pick up food items from restaurants within the airport.
This wanton drive for revenue will kill more businesses than build a thriving
economy.
Beyond the few excuses given by the operators of the car park and the
airport. Nigerians need organisations that are empathetic and can feel the
pulse of the people. With the current rate, it means anyone without a driver
cannot live a simple life of fueling his car at over a thousand naira per
litre, drive to the airport, keep his car and return joyfully to Lagos with the
intent of driving home. This is another way of destroying the middle class in
Nigeria. If you engage a friend, sibling or acquaintance without a license to
drive your car away from the airport, and such a person runs into the VIO or
FRSC, the problem becomes complicated.
It is expedient for the airport operators to devise a strategy to
identify actual travellers, which should be based solely on their boarding
passes and means of identification. For those whose boarding passes and tally
slips given at the car park entrance can be matched, they should be given a
concession. They can deal decisively with other vehicles parked without
justification. But making the car park rate unaffordable to the common man
should not be allowed to stay.
There is no moral justification for overnight parking, let alone moving
from 6,000 to 50,000! I will want to implore the Honourable Minister of
Aviation and Aerospace Development of Nigeria, Mr. Festus Keyamo, SAN; Managing
Director of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria, Mrs Olubunmi Kuku and
other government agencies to please look into the matter and reduce the
hardship being experienced by Nigerian travellers who need to park at MM2.
Olutayo Irantiola is a PR Consultant and Public
Affairs analyst based in Lagos, Nigeria
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