The Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA) recorded over 100 per cent increase in cargo movement comprising import and export in the third quarter of 2019 compared to the 2018 record, figures obtained by Daily Trust have shown. According to data obtained from the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), the airport, which is the busiest in the country taking the largest chunk of passenger and cargo movement, recorded a total cargo movement of 114.13 million tons in the last nine months (January-September).
This comprised 88.31m import and 25.82m export. But the 2019 figure recorded a boom from August with over 100 per cent increase compared to the 2018 figure. This, it was gathered, was as a result of the decision of the Federal Government to shut down the land borders in August this year. It has now extended the closure to January 2019.
This development has therefore led to a drastic rise in cargo movement at the airport. For instance, while 9.1m tons of cargo comprising 7.5m import and 1.6m export was recorded in August 2018, the cargo movement in August 2019 stood at 16.9m tons made up of 11.7m import and 5.2m export. In September 2019, a total of 16.8m tons of cargo movement was recorded including 11.7m import and 5.06m export.
This was 100 per cent increase compared to the 2018 figure which was 8.4m tons comprising 6.96m import and 1.52m export. While in 2018, a total of 129.09m tons of cargo movement was recorded, the Lagos Airport has already recorded 114.13m tons in nine months with a projection that the figure might surpass the 2018 record by over 90 if not 100 per cent going by the sustained border closure by the Federal Government. General Manager, Corporate Affairs of FAAN, Mrs.
Henrietta Yakubu, told Daily Trust that there has been a tremendous improvement in the cargo movement in recent times. “If you look at the 2018 figure, you will see that it was a lot of improvement with cargo movement growing by 72.50 per cent compared to the 2017 figure according to our record. But the border closure this year has further improved the amount of import and export facilitated by the MMIA,” she said. Mr. Olumide Ohunayo, Director of Research, Zenith Travels, said apart from the border closure which has reduced smuggling of goods into the country through the land borders, the stability in the polity has also helped to bolster confidence of people in doing business in Nigeria. He also attributed the boom in cargo movement to the stability in the foreign exchange market.
Daily Trust reports that the Murtala Muhammed Area Command of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) also generated N4.99bn in September alone which exceeded the command’s monthly revenue target with ₦674,171,230 translating to 115.6 per cent.
