SAFETY AND DISTRESS RESPONSE SYSTEM IN NIGERIA‘S INTERNATIONAL AIRPORTS KAYODE, VICTOR ADEDAYO A THESIS IN THE DEPARTMENT OF GEOGRAPHY SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF THE SOCIAL SCIENCES IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENT FOR THE AWARD OF DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN. MAY, 2014. UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN LIBRARY i ABSTRACT Airports require complete safety initiatives with a maximum of 20 minutes response time to distress situation. They are therefore regulated by International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) standards. However, in Nigeria, airport safety and distress response have been of great concern due to inadequate infrastructure. This study, therefore, examined safety facilities and response capability to distress situations in Nigeria international airports. The effects of haphazard spatial developments within the airports and their environments were also examined. The available infrastructure for safety and distress response initiatives were considered using ICAO check-list to determine their adequacy. Four international airports namely: Murtala Muhammed (Lagos), Aminu Kano (Kano), Nnamdi Azikwe (Abuja), and Port Harcourt were purposively selected. Three questionnaires were administered to 618 airport operators, 369 users and 462 neighbours in soliciting information on various aspects of safety and distress response initiatives including terminal buildings, navigational aids, runways and fire-fighting equipment and adequacy of staff training for operating Safety Management Systems (SMS) effectively. This was complemented with Key Informant Interview (KII) with 12 technical staff from 5 airport operators. Satellite imagery data were used to acquire spatial information on the airports. Descriptive statistics were used to analyse data on adequacy of safety facilities, staff training and distress responsiveness. Pearson correlation was used to determine the relationship between safety infrastructure and airport age. Analysis of Variance was used to determine variations in airport operators‘ safety awareness as recommended by ICAO. The KII data were content analysed, while raster model was used to determine the land- use pattern. Analysis were done at p<0.05. Functionality of safety facilities fell short of ICAO standards in all the airports by 30%, 25%, 20% and 10% in Lagos, Kano, Port-Harcourt and Abuja respectively. A positive relationship existed between airport age and obsolescence of safety infrastructure (r=0.12). Lagos airport had the most obsolete safety facilities. KII also revealed breakdown of infrastructure in the airports. There were significant variations in safety awareness among airport operators (F=11.95). Safety awareness was highest among the staff of Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (34.9%) and lowest among airport handling agents (12.2%). Ninety-one percent of airport operators sampled indicated distress response as being poor. Response time varied from 30 minutes in Abuja to 54 minutes in Lagos. Sixty percent of the users considered airport service quality as very low. Forty-six percent of airport operators indicated that they had no training since employed. Spatial analysis of the airports and their environment showed that Lagos and Kano airports suffered safety threats from poor waste management and chaotic traffic patterns. SafetyUNIVERSITY and distress response capacity OF was IBADAN relatively low in allLIBRARY the international airports investigated. There is an urgent need for the airports to be managed in line with international standards. Staff training should also be prioritised and spatial developments around airport s need to be controlled. Keywords: Airport safety, Distress response, Spatial development, Civil aviation standards, Nigerian international airports. Word Count: 463 ii CERTIFICATION This is to certify that this research work was carried out by Mr. Kayode, Victor Adedayo in the Department of Geography University of Ibadan. _________________________________________ Supervisor: Professor C.O. Ikporukpo, Ph.D Ibadan Prof. of Geography, University of Ibadan, Ibadan. Nigeria UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN LIBRARY iii DEDICATION Dedicated to the memory of my late father, Pa Michael Ojo Kayode. (1924-2004) UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN LIBRARY iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENT To God be the glory……great things He hath done…….. Truly, whatever has a beginning must surely have an end. From the beginning of this research work to the end, many waters passed underneath the bridge, coupled with other storms like thunder and whirl wind that were experienced. But by His grace, I was able to whither through all. Glory be to the Lord Almighty. The required strength for this research work would not have been built without the fatherly advice and contributions of my late amiable supervisor Prof. M.O. Filani, an Emeritus Professor of Geography in the University of Ibadan. His patience with me throughout this research and all the constructive contributions which he suggested to me actually upgraded this research to this level. But it is rather unfortunate that he did not witness the last stage of the work. Prof. Filani‘s patience with me was coupled with the love and affection shown to me by his wife, Mrs. Filani. Ma thanks a lot. I sincerely appreciate the timely intervention and contributions of Prof. C.O Ikporupo who saw me through to the end of the research. Equally, I want to show a special appreciation to my former H.O.D. (now, The Vice Chancellor, Ladoke Akintola University, Ogbomoso) Prof. ‗Niyi Gbadegesin for his interest in seeing to my completing this program. His moral support for me can not be quantified. My sincere gratitude goes to all my friends who have contributed to this research in one way or the other. Foremost among them is Dr. Felix Olorunfemi, who is a Senior Research Fellow at NISER Ojoo, Ibadan. His unflinching support from the beginning of this work to the end is highly appreciated. I want to pray that God will show His love and mercyUNIVERSITY to him and his family. I OFam also IBADANvery grateful to Mr. LIBRARY Dare Balogun of NISER Ojoo, Ibadan as one of the editors of this thesis. I want to express my gratitude to all my friends at NISER, Prof. Soji Adesanya (my academic friend of over 25 years) for his editing prowess which was manifested in this work. The contributions of Mr. Adeagbo, Prof. Olokesusi, Dr (Mrs) ‗Bukola Daramola and others also within NISER too v numerous to mention their names can not be over emphasised. My gratitude is hereby expressed. My appreciation goes to Dr. Ikwyuatum, who was the departmental post-graduate coordinator at the inception of my program. I also thank Dr Ajayi, who is the current departmental post-graduate coordinator for his efforts. The efforts of The Faculty of Social Sciences Post Graduate Schools coordinator, Dr. Okunola is equally acknowledged. And to all the staff of Geography department in the University of Ibadan (both academic and non-academic), I say thanks to you all. This acknowledgement will not be complete without mentioning the contributions of Prof. Olatubara of the Department of Urban and Regional Planning, University of Ibadan and that of Dr. Wole Olatokun of African Regional Centre for Information Science. I pray that the grace of God will not depart from these people and their entire family. Moreover, the success of the field work for this thesis was made possible with the contribution of some of my friends and staff within the aviation industry. Amongst which are Messer Bolaji Macaulay, Emmanuel-Emmanuel, Egnr. Emmanuel who are all staff members of Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria, Mrs. Oluwakemi Adigun of Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority and Mr. Debo Uwadiae Mr. Watson O. Adeniyi of Turkish airlines and many others whose names can not be mentioned here due to available space. The concern of my very good youthful friend (Mr. Olorunfemi Ebenezer (a.k.a. Sasasa), The Chairman of Fabian Hotels Ltd. Ado-Ekiti) is worthy of acknowledgement at this point. Your genuine and deep hearted moral involvement is highly appreciated. Indeed, you are a dependable, reliable and valuable friend. Furthermore,UNIVERSITY special admiration OF also goesIBADAN to my beautiful LIBRARY wife, Olori Enimaape Ifeoluwasimi Olabisi Dayo-Kayode and my children Oluwafunmilayo, Ademidotun, Adedapomola and Adedunni for their real understanding during the years of this research. vi I want to use this opportunity to express my gratitude to my late father‘s advice before his demise that I should not for any reason abandon the program. He was always telling me that nothing good comes so easy and for that reason I should persevere to the end…….daddy thank you very much, sleep well in the Lord‘s bosom and good night. My deep and heartfelt appreciation goes to my mother, Chief Mrs. Adefunke Beatrice Kayode, the Amo‘na-Oja of Ado-Ekiti for her affection, care and understanding in all these years past. Dear mother, no word can describe my appreciation towards the kind gesture you have shown me from the beginning till now. May the good Lord give you good health in your old age. In all I still want to glorify the name of my Almighty God from whom all strength comes from and whose mercies I receive anew each morning. KAYODE, V. ADEDAYO MAY, 2014. UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN LIBRARY vii TABLE OF CONTENTS Abstract ii Certification iii Dedication iv Acknowledgement v Table of Contents viii List of Tables xi List of Figures xiii List of Plates xv CHAPTER ONE: BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY AND STATEMENT OF RESEARCH PROBLEM. 1 1.1 Introduction 1 1.2 Justification