Again, power outage frustrates passengers at Lagos airport

Passengers were on Tuesday stranded at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos, following a power outage that lasted for hours.

PREMIUM TIMES gathered from affected passengers that they were kept in the dark without any explanation from relevant agencies of government.

A twitter user, Yemisi Adegoke, alleged that the airport officials did not seek alternative power supply amidst complaints from passengers kept in the dark.

“At Lagos International Airport and there is currently no power…and by the look of it NO GEN,” she tweeted via her handle @BriticoYemo.

Ms Adegoke, a reporter with the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), also alleged that airport officials took the foreigners among the passengers to another section of the airport that had power.

Many of the passengers were frustrated as they could not proceed with the boarding processes and were delayed all through the period, she said.

Incidences of power outage are becoming a recurring development at the Lagos airport.

Last Wednesday, flight operations were disrupted at the airport following a power outage.

The outage occurred at about 6.05pm and lasted for over an hour before it was restored.

The situation placed the nation’s busiest airport in total darkness, leaving airline officials, passengers and other airport users frustrated as they could not proceed with the boarding processes.

Basic arrangements at the nation’s busiest airport have always been hampered by regulatory failures, sometimes giving room for illegal and shady deals to thrive. The recent incidences of power outage at the airport is part of the larger rot that characterizes operations at the airport.

PREMIUM TIMES in a recent report captured how bribery and extortion thrive among officials at the airport, while toilet cleaner and touts issue fake yellow cards to travelers in the absence of thorough monitoring.

On Tuesday, this newspaper gathered that the light was later restored while passengers were attended to by officials.

Incredible scenes at the commercial capital of Nigeria’s international airport. NO ELECTRICITY. NO GENERATOR. NO EXPLANATION.

Passengers are waiting to get through immigration. pic.twitter.com/tFtt9V7RZY

— Yemisi Adegoke (@briticoyemo) November 13, 2018

Efforts to reach the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) spokesperson, Henrietta Yakubu, were unsuccessful Wednesday morning.