The SECRET Concerning Gate 2 At Nigeria's Internation Airport. Talk About POROUS Security. Read More Below And *SIGH*.
Poor Security System Exposes Abuja Airport
By Chinedu Eze
The Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja may be more susceptible to terrorist attack than any other international airport in Nigeria.
THISDAY learnt yesterday that the security of the airport is not absolutely under the management of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN).
An informed source said that the Gate 2 of the airport had been taken over by the Nigeria Air Force since 2005 after the security committee failed in persuading the Force to leave that part of the airport to FAAN’s Aviation Security.
According to the regulations of the International Civil Aviation Authority (ICAO), Aviation Security Department of the airport management body should be solely in charge of airport security with screening machines and metal detectors to screen passengers and their luggage.
THISDAY learnt that since FAAN lost the management of that gate 2 it is now used by highly placed persons, who move through the Nigeria Air Force base straight to the aircraft without being subjected to the standard security screening.
A dependable source told THISDAY: “This Gate 2 is being manned by the Nigeria Air Force and passengers pass through that gate without screening. AVSEC (Aviation Security) is aware and FAAN management is also aware but they cannot do anything about it. The people who pass through that gate usually stay at the Air Force Command until when their plane is ready for departure; they will just walk to the tarmac and board. Up till now people are still passing through that gate without screening.”
The implication of that, the source stressed, is that anyone can take anything into the aircraft through that gate and Nigeria cannot say that it is monitoring security at the nation’s airports when that gate 2 is not under the control of FAAN.
“The issue has been discussed many times at the airport security committee meetings but the gate 2 of the airport has not been handed over to them, which is an act that undermines security at the airport because you cannot hold them accountable if anything happens there,” the source said.
Corroborating this, a senior FAAN official with the security department told THISDAY that FAAN had to abandon that gate in 2005 after the security community of the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport could not make the Nigeria Air Force relinquish the gate to FAAN.
“So I cannot take responsibility so long as Aviation Security of FAAN was not in charge of that gate. It is against ICAO regulation for any other body to man the security of any airport except AVSEC personnel who are trained in accordance to international aviation security standards,” the source said.
But the general manager, public affairs department of FAAN, Akin Olukunle, told THISDAY he was not aware of that, noting that there was nothing like that.
Attention on the security of airports in Nigeria has become poignant as a Nigerian citizen, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, who travelled from Lagos to Amsterdam on December 24, attempted but failed to blow up a Northwest Airline flight 253 from Amsterdam to Detroit, Michigan on Christmas Day with a bomb.
He boarded the aircraft from Amsterdam to Michigan, United States.
Industry analysts are still shocked that Abdulmutallab passed through the screening machines both at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos and those of Schipol Airport Amsterdam without being detected.
But the Director-General of the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), Dr. Harold Demuren, said that Nigeria passed ICAO security audit as well as that of Transportation Security Administration (TSA) of the United States.
By Chinedu Eze
The Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja may be more susceptible to terrorist attack than any other international airport in Nigeria.
THISDAY learnt yesterday that the security of the airport is not absolutely under the management of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN).
An informed source said that the Gate 2 of the airport had been taken over by the Nigeria Air Force since 2005 after the security committee failed in persuading the Force to leave that part of the airport to FAAN’s Aviation Security.
According to the regulations of the International Civil Aviation Authority (ICAO), Aviation Security Department of the airport management body should be solely in charge of airport security with screening machines and metal detectors to screen passengers and their luggage.
THISDAY learnt that since FAAN lost the management of that gate 2 it is now used by highly placed persons, who move through the Nigeria Air Force base straight to the aircraft without being subjected to the standard security screening.
A dependable source told THISDAY: “This Gate 2 is being manned by the Nigeria Air Force and passengers pass through that gate without screening. AVSEC (Aviation Security) is aware and FAAN management is also aware but they cannot do anything about it. The people who pass through that gate usually stay at the Air Force Command until when their plane is ready for departure; they will just walk to the tarmac and board. Up till now people are still passing through that gate without screening.”
The implication of that, the source stressed, is that anyone can take anything into the aircraft through that gate and Nigeria cannot say that it is monitoring security at the nation’s airports when that gate 2 is not under the control of FAAN.
“The issue has been discussed many times at the airport security committee meetings but the gate 2 of the airport has not been handed over to them, which is an act that undermines security at the airport because you cannot hold them accountable if anything happens there,” the source said.
Corroborating this, a senior FAAN official with the security department told THISDAY that FAAN had to abandon that gate in 2005 after the security community of the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport could not make the Nigeria Air Force relinquish the gate to FAAN.
“So I cannot take responsibility so long as Aviation Security of FAAN was not in charge of that gate. It is against ICAO regulation for any other body to man the security of any airport except AVSEC personnel who are trained in accordance to international aviation security standards,” the source said.
But the general manager, public affairs department of FAAN, Akin Olukunle, told THISDAY he was not aware of that, noting that there was nothing like that.
Attention on the security of airports in Nigeria has become poignant as a Nigerian citizen, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, who travelled from Lagos to Amsterdam on December 24, attempted but failed to blow up a Northwest Airline flight 253 from Amsterdam to Detroit, Michigan on Christmas Day with a bomb.
He boarded the aircraft from Amsterdam to Michigan, United States.
Industry analysts are still shocked that Abdulmutallab passed through the screening machines both at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos and those of Schipol Airport Amsterdam without being detected.
But the Director-General of the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), Dr. Harold Demuren, said that Nigeria passed ICAO security audit as well as that of Transportation Security Administration (TSA) of the United States.
Labels: Corruption, Keeping them honest, Public safety, Terror
posted by KYJurisDoctor at 2:22 PM
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