FAAN: Passenger safety drove tighter oversight of e-hailing, car-hire services at airports – Kuku

The Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) has said its decision to strengthen oversight of e-hailing and car-hire services at airports was prompted by passenger safety concerns, complaints of intimidation and touting, as well as disagreements with ride-hailing companies over responsibility for drivers.

FAAN Managing Director, Mrs Olubunmi Kuku, disclosed this at a recent aviation forum in Lagos while responding to concerns surrounding the authority’s relationship with e-hailing operators and the reported exit of some companies from aspects of the Nigerian market.

Kuku said FAAN’s intervention should not be interpreted as an attempt to control the broader operations of e-hailing companies in Nigeria, stressing that the authority’s mandate was limited to ensuring the safety and protection of passengers within airports under its jurisdiction.

She said the airport authority had received several complaints, particularly during the December holiday period, from passengers who used e-hailing and car-hire services.

“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.

According to Kuku, some of the complaints received by FAAN involved passengers being intimidated, dropped at locations other than their intended destinations and subjected to other unpleasant experiences.

“We did receive a lot of concerns, especially around the December holiday period, about passengers who took some of the e-hailing … and even the car-hire services, who had very terrible experiences,” she said.

“Some of them went all the way from intimidation, to being dropped in other places, and even more extreme situations.”

The FAAN managing director said another concern that influenced the authority’s approach was the alleged manipulation of e-hailing arrangements by some drivers operating around airports.

She disclosed that there had been instances where drivers associated with e-hailing platforms would leave their vehicles and enter the airport, allegedly presenting themselves as e-hailing drivers before joining car-hire operators.

According to her, some of the drivers subsequently charged passengers higher fares.

“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,” Kuku said.

She said the practice contributed to complaints about touting at airports and made it necessary for FAAN to introduce greater oversight over car-hire operators.

The authority’s concern, she explained, was not simply the amount passengers paid, but the ability to establish who was providing the transportation service and who was ultimately responsible for the passenger’s safety.

Kuku explained that the application developed by FAAN was intended to improve transparency around airport car-hire services.

She said passengers needed to be able to identify the car-hire company they were dealing with and the driver responsible for taking them from the airport to their destination.

“So 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.

The FAAN boss emphasised that the authority was not operating the vehicles or collecting fares from passengers on behalf of the drivers.

“FAAN does not collect money on behalf of the drivers. Those car-hire drivers are not FAAN drivers,” she said.

She explained that FAAN’s role was primarily to provide visibility and information, including indicative fares for different destinations.

“All we do is to give you a sample of the rates based on the destination that you’re going to,” she added.

The clarification comes against the background of recurring complaints about the cost and reliability of transportation services at Nigerian airports, where travellers often have to choose between conventional airport car-hire services and app-based ride-hailing platforms.

Kuku, however, said passengers remained free to decide which service they wanted to use. According to the FAAN chief executive, travellers can pre-book vehicles, use e-hailing applications or engage airport-based car-hire operators.

She stressed that FAAN was not imposing a particular transport option on passengers.

“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 whether you want to use the car hires – we have no jurisdiction over that,” she said.

Kuku also explained why airport car-hire services could sometimes be more expensive than ordinary e-hailing rides.

She said the structure of the airport car-hire business meant that drivers often had to transport passengers from the airport to their destinations and return to the airport, a factor that influenced their pricing.

“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,” she said.

However, while FAAN does not determine which service passengers use, Kuku said it had a duty to ensure that passengers had sufficient information to make informed decisions.

“The only thing that I have a responsibility to do is to ensure that you have visibility over who is driving you and those within our airport,” she said.

Beyond the complaints over passenger experiences and touting, Kuku identified liability as one of the major areas of disagreement between FAAN and e-hailing companies.

She said the companies had requested dedicated pick-up zones at airports and that FAAN had agreed to the request.

However, the authority also wanted the companies to accept responsibility for drivers using their platforms, particularly where passenger safety was concerned.

“One of the things that we were struggling with the e-hailing companies was largely around liability clauses,” Kuku said. “So they wanted us to give them dedicated pickup zones, which we agreed to, but we also wanted them to take responsibilities for the drivers.”

According to her, the companies maintained that the drivers were independent operators rather than employees of the platforms.

“But we were told that those drivers are not the drivers of Uber, rather they’re independent drivers,” she said.

That position, she explained, became a major concern for FAAN because the authority wanted clear lines of responsibility in cases involving passenger safety.

Kuku said the companies’ position was that passengers should rely on safety features embedded in the e-hailing applications when they encountered problems.

“Any safety concerns that we had, they wanted the passengers to use the safety features; they did not want to take up that responsibility, and we had a major issue with that,” she said.

Kuku also rejected suggestions that FAAN was responsible for any decision by Uber to leave the Nigerian market or alter its operations.

She said Uber’s business decisions were beyond FAAN’s control and could be influenced by its own economic and regulatory considerations.

“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.

The FAAN managing director added that she was aware that the company had been considering its position in Nigeria for some time.

She said this background was important in understanding why negotiations between the company and FAAN over airport operations had reached a difficult point.

“I know that they had been considering exiting Nigeria for a while, which is indeed why we had a stumbling point with them,” she said.

Kuku therefore maintained that any decision by Uber regarding its Nigerian operations should not be attributed to FAAN’s policies.

She further pointed out that airports represented only a small part of the wider market in which e-hailing companies operate.

“Again, the airport is just a small jurisdiction of the area that they cover within Nigeria,” she added.

The clarification by FAAN places passenger safety and accountability at the centre of the ongoing debate over transportation services at Nigerian airports.

While the authority says it has no intention of dictating the transport choices of passengers, its position is that every operator and driver accessing airport facilities must be identifiable, while appropriate mechanisms must exist to protect passengers from touting, intimidation and other risks.

For FAAN, Kuku’s explanation suggests that the central issue is therefore not competition between traditional car-hire operators and e-hailing platforms, but who is accountable when a passenger leaves an airport in a vehicle operating through either system.