By Francis Ogwo
There have been low turnouts at the Murtala Mohammed Airport, Lagos, since the resumption of full commercial flight activities.
Recall that the Lagos, the commercial hub of Nigeria had been thrown into palpable fear with pockets of violence in the wake of the Lekki Toll Gate shooting.
This led to a placing of a three day curfew by Lagos State Government had placed a three-day curfew in the state thereby having a toll on domestic flight operations into the city which has the busiest airport in the country.
Airport sources revealed that due to the security breach around the state and with hoodlums holding away across the city, there have been palpable fear by travellers. The subsequent lifting of the ban by the state government didn’t get immediate results especially at the airports which usually records high inflow of passengers.
An official of a commercial airline, Dana Air, Okwudili Ezenwa, said, “We are hoping that by next week, everything should have settled down because right now, people are still trying to be sure of their movements.
“Passengers are being cautious before they come out. So, things have not balanced. People are not leaving Lagos as such from the airport now; rather, they are being careful.”
“In locations where no curfew was announced, other places will still have to feed such locations. So since we have curfews here and there, ultimately it affects areas where we don’t have curfew.
“But we hope everything settles down well before next week.”
Recall that the nationwide #EndSARS protests had been hijacked by suspected hoodlums leading to lootings and destruction of properties of government and individuals. This led to a drop in commercial activities coupled with the 24 hour curfew in the state.
