Bolt, Uber drivers were involved in unethical practices at airports, Kuku

The Managing Director of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), Mrs. Olubunmi Kuku, has clarified the circumstances surrounding recent disagreements between the airport management authority and e-hailing operators, insisting that the agency’s position has been driven primarily by passenger safety, security and the need to provide a seamless experience at Nigerian airports.

Kuku, who spoke while addressing issues surrounding the activities of e-hailing and car-hire operators at the nation’s airports, said FAAN’s responsibility was not to determine the commercial fortunes of individual e-hailing companies, but to ensure that passengers using airport facilities were adequately protected.

She spoke at the second edition of the induction and unveiling of Montage ceremony of Honorees into the Nigeria Aviation Hall of Fame in Lagos where she was also honoured alongside the Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Mr Festus Keyamo among others.

Her clarification comes amid growing public attention to the operations of e-hailing services at Nigerian airports, particularly following concerns over passenger experiences during the busy December holiday period and reports surrounding the departure of Uber from the Nigerian market.

According to Kuku, FAAN had received several complaints from passengers who used e-hailing and car-hire services and allegedly encountered unpleasant, and in some cases serious, experiences.

She said “In recent weeks, I’ve seen a lot of information in the media, but I think what is important to clarify is that I work for the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria, and my responsibility, first, is to ensure that our passengers are safe, they’re protected, and they have a seamless passenger experience,” she said.

The FAAN boss was emphatic that the authority could not speak for Uber or explain the company’s business decisions, saying “For Uber, I can’t speak to their exit from Nigeria. I’m sure they have their own economic and regulatory decisions as to why they choose to exit,” she said.

However, she explained that FAAN’s intervention in the operations of e-hailing and car-hire services at airports was necessitated by complaints from passengers and concerns over activities taking place within the airport environment.

Kuku said FAAN began receiving significant complaints, particularly during the December holiday rush, involving passengers who patronised e-hailing and car-hire services.

According to her, the complaints ranged from intimidation to passengers allegedly being dropped off at locations other than their intended destinations, with some incidents described as even more extreme.

The situation, she noted, created a need for the airport authority to introduce greater oversight over the activities of commercial vehicle operators serving airport passengers.

FAAN’s concern, she explained, was not necessarily which particular e-hailing platform passengers chose to use, but whether the airport authority could identify the vehicle and driver conveying a passenger from the airport.

Kuku said there were also instances where some drivers operating under e-hailing platforms allegedly left their vehicles and joined airport car-hire operators, creating confusion and contributing to what passengers perceived as touting at the airport.

“We did have situations where some of the Uber and Bolt drivers would get down from their cars under the guise of coming into the airport as e-hailing drivers, and they would join the car hires to charge higher fares,” she explained.

It was against this background, she said, that FAAN considered it necessary to provide a degree of regulatory oversight for car-hire operations within the airport environment.

She also provided clarification on the purpose of the app introduced for airport car-hire operations, saying it was not designed as a revenue-generating platform for FAAN.

Rather, she said, the system was developed to provide passengers with visibility and basic information about the operators and drivers providing transportation services at the airport.

“The app that was developed was strictly to focus on the fact that you have visibility on who the car-hire companies are, you know who the driver that is taking you from Point A to Point B is,” she said.

She stressed that FAAN does not collect transportation fares on behalf of the drivers and that the car-hire operators are not FAAN employees.

“FAAN does not collect money on behalf of the drivers. Those car-hire drivers are not FAAN drivers. All we do is to give you a sample of the rates based on the destination that you’re going to,” she explained.

The clarification is significant because concerns had emerged over whether FAAN’s involvement in airport transportation services amounted to an attempt to control fares or create a competing transportation system.

But the FAAN MD maintained that passengers remained free to choose their preferred means of transportation, saying “It is the choice of the passenger whether you want to pre-book your cars, whether you want to use the e-hailing app, or you want to use the car hires—we have no jurisdiction over that,” she said.

According to her, FAAN’s role is primarily to ensure that passengers have sufficient information and that operators within the airport environment can be identified and accounted for.

The FAAN Managing Director also addressed concerns over the relatively higher fares charged by traditional airport car-hire operators, and explained that the pricing structure was partly influenced by the nature of their operations.

“It’s also important to note that the car hires by nature have always charged a higher fare, because their reason is they’re only going from one point to the airport and returning to the airport,” Kuku said.

Her explanation underscores one of the fundamental differences between traditional airport car-hire services and app-based e-hailing operations. While e-hailing platforms typically operate through a wider network of drivers who can pick up passengers from multiple locations and potentially secure another trip after dropping off a passenger, airport car-hire operators often depend heavily on airport-related trips.

Mrs. Kuku also identified liability as one of the major areas of disagreement between FAAN and e-hailing companies. She disclosed that FAAN had discussions with e-hailing operators over the possibility of providing dedicated pickup zones for their operations at the airports.

According to her, while FAAN was prepared to accommodate dedicated pickup arrangements, it also wanted the companies to accept greater responsibility for the drivers operating under their platforms.

This, she said, became problematic because the companies maintained that the drivers were independent contractors rather than direct employees adding that “One of the things that we were struggling with the e-hailing companies was largely around liability clauses.”

“They wanted us to give them dedicated pickup zones, which we agreed to, but we also wanted them to take responsibility for the drivers.”

The disagreement, she explained, centred on who should bear responsibility when safety or security concerns arose involving a driver using an e-hailing platform saying “We were told that those drivers are not the drivers of Uber, rather they’re independent drivers,”

The position, she affirmed presented a challenge for FAAN because the airport authority’s primary concern remained the safety and protection of passengers using its facilities.

According to her, the e-hailing operators instead pointed passengers towards the safety features embedded in their applications, rather than accepting direct responsibility for the conduct of individual drivers.

For FAAN, she indicated, this was not sufficient to address the authority’s concerns within the airport environment, hence the impasses.

She maintained that the airports management agency should not be blamed for the decision of an e-hailing company to leave the Nigerian market, saying “I’m sure that they had their own reasoning, and I know that they had been considering exiting Nigeria for a while. The airport is just a small jurisdiction of the area that they cover within Nigeria,”