On 22nd July 2026–just two days ago, I had what I’d describe as the worst airport experience of my life.
I was harassed at the Osubi Airport while taking an 11.45am United Nigeria Airlines Flight from Warri to Abuja.
I have since filed formal complaints with Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria(FAAN)MMIA and the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority,Abuja (NCAA) because what happened should concern every Nigerian who flies.
I’m sharing this for three reasons:
1. The FAAN staff member said that others were cooperating except me, so apparently, they’re used to people not speaking up(or maybe they only do it to certain people), but the fact that people are silent about it doesn’t make it right.
2. Secondly, my family members have been extorted through this same process at this Osubi airport
3. Nigeria is the way it is because, most times, people don’t speak up, and even those who do don’t formally file a report or ensure that such a misnomer is checked or completely stopped.
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Let’s start from the Airport reputation:
Before I arrived at the airport I had been told by my siblings that the Osubi airport has a habit of manually checking your luggage, which I thought was ridiculous, especially as there’s usually a machine luggage scanner/Xray at every airport.
My sister also went ahead to tell me that that on one occasion when these FAAN officers invited her into the screening room at the Osubi airport to “clear” her main check-in luggage, they asked her to open the bag and started removing things for her luggage, one of the things they removed was a can of juice which they insisted cannot be flown with, and then convinced her to leave it behind for them to drink, and she did.
On another occasion, they also opened her check-in luggage, removed her perfumes and other things, and again insisted that she cannot fly with them, then when she asked what could be done, they said “you go find something for us na”,
she asked how much, and they told her to pay N5000 before they’ll allow her fly with the supposed “prohibited” items they removed.
And she ended up paying them N3000 cash, because they also refused to take a mobile bank transfer to avoid implicating themselves.
Based on my sister’s experience and what I personally experienced on 22 July, I am concerned that this may indicate a recurring pattern of misconduct, and this has happened to my sister on multiple occasions.
So after hearing all this, I still thought, hmm this is unacceptable, maybe it was a one-off, or they must’ve stopped such behaviour by now, so I was optimistic that there’ll be no issues on my journey.
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📌 My experience
I got there around 10am—an hour 45mins before my scheduled flight. My family accompanied me to bid me farewell—mom, dad and two of my sisters.
They stood aside waiting for the last hug from me, while I went ahead to check in.
1️⃣ The first issue I noticed was that they had apparently altered their luggage scale at the Osubi Airport.
When flying, I always take a personal handy scale with which I weigh my luggage at home to ensure it complies with the airline's luggage allowance.
I do this when flying both locally and internationally, and the scale is often as accurate as the one at the airport, but there was a discrepancy on the Osubi Airport’s scale.
2️⃣ A luggage I had properly packed and weighed at home as 17kg, was showing 18kg on the Osubi airport scale. I brought out my handy scale right there, weighed it again in the presence of the attendant, my scale again displayed 17kg, he was surprised.
Yet he insisted I paid for the extra 1kg weight their scale displayed, and I obliged. Went over to the counter and paid it off. That's not the problem.
I had also already initially checked-in online before arriving at the airport, so I got my boarding pass and they took my main luggage in, and later called me to come and “clear” my luggage.
When travelling, I always lock my luggage with a padlock, especially because of stories of airport staff removing items from passengers' luggage or putting incriminating items in one’s luggage.
So I like to keep mine locked. 🔒
3️⃣ When I was called in to clear my bag, I saw my bags on a table, one of the FAAN staff members asked me what I had in the nylon bag that accompanied my main luggage, I told him it was just packs of tissues, which was obvious because it was a transparent bag. But he insisted I open it, and I did—now the manual searching begins—but I thought it’d just be for that transparent bag alone. I was wrong.
His female colleague then asked me to open my main luggage, and that’s where I asked her why she was manually checking my luggage, she said the machine scanner was not clear.
I was already feeling uncomfortable because this was beginning to look like what my sister had told me she experienced. However, I decided to cooperate since I obviously had nothing incriminating in my bag.
So I brought out my key and unlocked my luggage for her to see. And this woman started ransacking my bag—my clothes. It felt so intrusive.
4️⃣ She then started to bring out my canned food—5 cans of Peak Milk and sardines, and also my perfumes, insisting that I can’t travel with them. 😮
On a domestic flight?
A few sealed canned items?
Are these contraband?
Are they dangerous?
Are they explosives?
Things meticulously packed inside my check-in luggage (not hand luggage)?
If passengers are allowed to travel with their power banks (which could be an explosive—in their hand luggage), how much more tightly sealed tin beverage?!
At that point I knew this had to be a joke!
In my experience, first off, I’ve never been asked to open my luggage.
Usually, when they pass it through the X-ray machine, you’re allowed to go afterwards, except if you have prohibited or dangerous items that need to be double-checked, then you’re pulled over, and that has never been my case.
But apparently, it is different at Osubi Airport.
5️⃣ When I asked why, this FAAN staff member just kept saying “the items are not going”, and I could see her colleague gesturing to her to ignore me. And that pissed me off.
Ignore me so that I’d miss my flight?
Just because I’m asking for an explanation?
What is this level of intimidation and harassment?
Some of the staff there acted like it was normal, they were silent. Although some of the airline staff members came to tell the FAAN security to let me travel with my items, they refused.
It became a scene. Other passengers were watching, some grumbling, because they’ve had similar experiences but couldn’t speak up.
6️⃣ So I continued to demand to know why. Their behaviour was so dismissive, disrespectful, and triggering that I started to raise my voice, no one was saying anything sensible, I was unjustly being delayed.
This FAAN staff member then told me that other passengers were cooperating, sounding like I was the crazy one. I told her that the fact that everybody is doing it doesn’t make it right!
This was the same person who collected money from my sister and allowed her to fly with her things a while ago.
But I am not going to do that! I will not create an avenue for extortion or be intimidated.
The airport supervisor came to the scene and I was allowed to go with my perfumes, but they still removed the canned beverage.
7️⃣ So in my experience, and based on accounts shared with me by other passengers and family members, Osubi Airport has a reputation for:
1. Conducting manual searches of passengers’ luggage (instead of utilising the airport’s functioning X-ray screening machine process) a practice that, if abused, creates opportunities for extortion and other misconduct.
2. Unapologetically handling passengers’ personal belongings in an inappropriate and intrusive manner.
3. Insisting that passengers are not permitted to travel with items that are generally acceptable for air travel, confiscating and requiring those items to be left behind, which later becomes their personal property.
4. Requesting or accepting money from passengers before subsequently allowing them to travel with items they had initially claimed were prohibited—which is extortion.
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My request:
8️⃣ I have reviewed the applicable passenger guidance issued by FAAN and the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA). The published restrictions relate primarily to dangerous goods, weapons, explosives, flammable substances, and limitations on liquids in your hand baggage.
I have not found any regulation prohibiting properly packed canned food items, such as (five pieces of) canned milk and sardines, from being transported in checked baggage.
My luggage contained only properly sealed canned food items in my checked baggage, and no explanation or written regulation was provided to justify their confiscation.
8️⃣Manual searches of passengers’ luggage also create unnecessary opportunities for abuse.
➡️They increase the risk of passengers’ belongings being mishandled, damaged, removed, or delayed.
➡️ More dangerously, they create an opportunity for ill-intentioned individuals/unscrupulous staff who could potentially introduce prohibited/incriminating items into a passenger’s luggage, exposing innocent travellers to the risk of false implication.
There have been reported instances of this nature from the news and various jurisdictions, which underscores why transparent, standardised, and properly supervised screening procedures are critical to protecting both passengers and airport personnel.
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The manner in which my belongings were handled was deeply disturbing.
Being prevented from travelling with properly packed canned food items in my checked baggage caused significant distress and unnecessarily delayed my journey.
They even caused damage to my luggage in the process.
The experience was intimidating, humiliating, and left me feeling vulnerable as a passenger.
9️⃣I am a frequent traveller within Nigeria as well as internationally.
In my experience travelling through several domestic and international airports, I have not encountered this practice of manually checking luggage or been prevented from travelling with properly packed sealed canned food items, nor have I ever had my baggage treated in this manner.
This incident occurred on my 11.45am flight from Warri to Abuja via United Nigeria Airlines.
The identities of the officers involved have already been provided to FAAN and NCAA.
The annoying part was how rude, unapologetic and dismissive they were about the inconvenience and distress they were causing.
I landed in Abuja feeling completely disoriented and unwell.
There were several witnesses to this incident, including my family members who accompanied me to the airport and other passengers who gathered at the scene.
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🔟 I have already written to the appropriate authorities—The Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) and the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA).
I respectfully request:
➡️ That FAAN investigate this matter thoroughly and take the necessary steps to address any misconduct by the staff involved.
➡️ Whether their manual search of check-in luggage complies with FAAN’s established standard screening procedures.
➡️ Whether the officers involved acted within the scope of applicable aviation regulations based on my experience.
➡️ Whether it is okay for passengers to be routinely prevented from travelling with items that are otherwise permissible in check-in baggage.
➡️I also request that appropriate measures be put in place to prevent other passengers from experiencing similar treatment.
This is bigger than my experience. Every passenger deserves to travel without intimidation, unnecessary intrusion, or the fear of being coerced into surrendering their belongings or paying money to exercise a right they already have.
I hope FAAN’s investigation results in meaningful reforms so that no other traveller has to endure what I experienced.
✍🏽 Progress Oberiko.
Watch video below.
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