The new Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA) terminal in Lagos is to process over 12 million passengers when inaugurated for flight operations.
Managing Director, Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), Captain Hamisu Yadudu, said the new terminal would process 12 million passengers yearly while the 48, 000 square meters facility alongside the old terminal would process between 20 million and 30 million passengers yearly.
In an interview with The Nation, the pilot-turned airport manager said the new terminal will have 72 check – in counters, five baggage collection carousels, 28 immigration desks at the arrival wing of the facility and 16 immigration desks at departure, eight security screening points and eight passengers boarding bridges plus remote boarding and arrival facilities.
He said the new terminal with strategically designed transit facilities will go a long way to easing the stress of passengers , airline personnel and other users of the facility.
“The new international terminal billed for inauguration at the Lagos Airport is billed to achieve hub status for Nigeria in the West African sub-region. But, it should not be seen from the point of view of the timing when this facility is open. It has been work in progress, strategically primed to achieve that long dream of making Lagos Airport in hub for West Africa.
“The terminal is about to be inaugurated, it has already established a connectivity with other terminals. To have a hub status, there must be connectivity. Besides, there is also a need to connect the two wings of the international wings with the domestic terminal. For any airport to qualify as a hub the issue of connectivity must be properly worked out.
“It is easy to achieve hub status for a country like Nigeria. But, connectivity as a feature in hub pursuit must be in terms of passengers operations, personnel movement and bagage movement. It has to be full connectivity involving staffing issues to ease operations,” Yadudu said.
According to him, FAAN is working on processes that will make it easier for staffing, baggage and passenger operations.
He said FAAN already has designs submitted to it by prospective investors to assist in achieving connectivity for the Lagos Airport, which is an important part of achieving the hub pursuit by ensuring that the airport is ready in terms of all infrastructural needs, procedural needs to achieve the ambition of a hub.
He noted that having the second terminal has pushed Nigeria into almost seventy per cent of what is needed to achieve the status of a hub.
On efforts by the airport authority to integrate the new facility with multimodal transport infrastructure, Yadudu said discussions were ongoing with Lagos State Government to link the existing rail facility with the airport.
He noted that serious engagement with stakeholders , in particular, Lagos State Government to achieve this initiative is on going with fruitful benefits.
“We have started work on this, hub status in terms of intermodal connections is beyond flight operations, we have to factor in movement of people from the city into the airport. And even from other cities into Lagos, there must be a mechanism to easily transit into the Lagos Airport , from wherever you are coming from to link you into and out of the airport.
“There is a light design that the airport authority is studying , we are possibly looking at linking the rail from the Ikeja Bus Terminal into the Lagos Airport .The Lagos State Government has been very supportive of this project. Our team has been meeting with them to see it through,” Yadudu said.
According to him, the new terminals will have the latest technology that is possible, but not all that is available in the world.
“We will have the technology that is critical, especially the ones having to do with the check in counters, fibre optic technology to take care of all communication needs , the common user terminal , but not ordinary communication cable that we will use in all the terminals.
“ Passenger comfort option is also there in terms of air conditioning system, charging ports attached to the seat at the terminal. Above all the agencies including Nigeria Immigration Service that will work in this terminal understand all we are doing to enhance passenger facilitation with the technologically driven facilities that will boost passenger security and safety,” Yadudu said.

By Kelvin Osa-Okunbor