Foreign Journalists Complain of Extortion of Immigration Officers at MMIA, Lagos

Nigeria is a great country of talents, accommodating people a home of an abundance of hardworking people, people who have never received bribes or demand such from doing their duties. In a situation where those who are meant to be the country's image to foreigners coming into the country are bent on denting the image of innocent Nigerians, then there is a problem.

The issue of extortion at Muritala Mohammed International Airport is not new to Nigerians. The officers in charge of duty now openly harassed and extort foreigners coming into the country, some of these officers if they discovered there is no way to make you pay illegal charges, they resort to begging the foreigners to drop some money for them.

An Ethiopian journalist Samuel Getachew who writes for TheReporterET, CNBC Africa, and Huff Posts Canada has taken to the micro-blogging site, Twitter to complain about the extortion of the immigration guys at the airport, they were so bold that they do this in the open! Samuel was in Lagos for the Tony Elumelu Foundation and CNBC Africa alongside other international media organization were invited to cover the program but they were all disappointed.

Another journalist named Maria Lopes too complained of this extortion as well

As at last year, Prof Yemi Osinbajo, paid a surprise visit to the Murtala Mohammed International Airport (MMIA), Lagos, declaring an urgent task to correct many of the problems already identified by the council.

According to him: “As part of our work on the Ease of Doing Business, on making the environment friendly, not just for local businesses, but also for those who want to come and do business in Nigeria, the airport obviously is one of the major places where we need to ensure that facilities are working and that things are being run properly.

“So, we have looked around, we have seen some of the equipment. There are many things that need to be done, many things that need to be corrected, and we have to work on them as quickly as possible.