Concerns Mount over Porous Airports Security

Air travellers to domestic destinations in Nigeria have raised the alarm over the porous security at the airports, especially at the passengers screening points, which makes the place vulnerable to attacks.

Their worries stemmed from what they described as unrestricted access to aircraft cabin by people with prohibited goods, which could be injurious to air travellers.

Checks at the airports revealed that aviation security (AVSEC) workers indulge in other activities instead of concentrating on profiling passengers.

The alleged lack of commitment by AVSEC personnel has enabled workers to access the aircraft cabin with ease.

On Tuesday, security personnel attached to a prominent politician were involved in an accident on their way to Lagos from Abuja. The two policemen and officials of State Security Service, who sustained severe injuries, were brought to the airport on wheelchair, since they were billed to travel at 1:30 pm. They were said to have passed through the screening points being manned by AVSEC, when it was discovered during secondary screening by the airline that one of the security operatives had some ammunition with him, which were not identified by the X-ray machine during the first screening.

THISDAY learnt that Dana Air security personnel had stopped them from travelling and insisted that proper documentation must be carried out. The airline thereafter alerted the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) and the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) to inform them of the incident.

THISDAY investigations revealed that the airlines officials were aghast that the passengers went through the X-ray machine without the bullets being detected.

The incident has continue to elicit reactions from airport users, who noted some of the AVSEC personnel have taken passenger screening as a daily routine exercise and have lost the import or the reason for the screening.

“Some of these officers have forgotten why this screening must have to take place. They have forgotten it is to safe lives; they have forgotten that it is

to prevent any passengers from taking incendiary devices and other dangerous items into the airport,” one of the passengers who is an aviator told THISDAY.

An official of the Lagos Airport domestic terminal, MMA2, told THISDAY that the terminal management does not have any control of AVSEC personnel who are fully FAAN staff.