A study conducted by the The Guide To Sleeping in Airports has named three of Nigeria’s international airports as the worst in Africa.
The airports are Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos (10th worst) Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, (7th worst) Port Harcourt International Airport, Port Harcourt (6th worst).
The rest are Khartoum International Airport, Sudan (first); Kinshasa N’djili International Airport, Democratic Republic of the Congo (second); Tripoli International Airport, Libya (third); Dar es Salaam Julius Nyerere International Airport, Tanzania (fourth); Luanda Quatro de Fevereiro International Airport, Angola (fifth); N’Djamena International Airport, Chad (eighth) and Accra Kotoka International Airport, Ghana (ninth).
The study organizers stated that it had used a voting system to get reviews and also got stories included by unfortunate airport passengers across the continent.
They said: “From dirty floors and bathrooms to the regular request for bribes, travellers were unimpressed with the airports that made it onto this year’s worst airports in Africa list.
“Other complaints revolved around a lack of air conditioning in sweltering climates, general navigational chaos, limited yet expensive restaurant options and questionably effective security processes.
“While travelling through these airports, most people prefer to skip the airport sleeping experience altogether and splurge on a nearby airport hotel instead. These airports task patience of travellers,” the report stated.
The study also included the list for the best airports in Africa, these included Johannesburg O.R. Tambo International Airport, South Africa, which is ranked first.
Then Cape Town International Airport, South Africa (second); Durban King Shaka International Airport, South Africa (third), Algiers Houari Boumediene International Airport, Algeria (fourth); and Addis Ababa-Bole International Airport, Ethiopia (fifth).
FAAN spokesman has however authoritatively dismissed the report of the study and said its false.
FAAN spokesperson, Mr. Yakubu Dattisaid: “I am just arriving from an event where improvement of Nigerian airports has been applauded”.