FG gets N4.5bn safety tools for airports
- Experts laud new security at aerodromes
The Federal Government has ordered over a hundred screening machines at all the airports across the country in a bid to speed up ease of doing business.
Already, the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) had since collapsed all the different screening desks at the airport into one point just as FAAN Aviation Security (AVSEC), Quarantine, Customs and other security agencies are now in one single point to check the luggage of passengers coming into the airport.
Yesterday, FAAN took delivery of 10 of the equipment in addition to those that are operational at both the Lagos and Abuja airports.
The machines use lowlevel x-rays to create a two-dimensional image of the body. Within these scanners, the reflection or backscatter of a narrow, low energy x-ray beam off the body is detected, digitised and stored. The data is then enhanced to create a display of the person and any concealed objects.
These machines, which cost $150,000 each, are expected to be deployed in Nigerian airports. Baggage checking x-ray machines are less expensive, running between $35, 000 and $45, 000.
Spokeswoman for FAAN, Mrs. Henrietta Yakubu, confirmed the acquisition to Woleshadare.net on Monday. Although, she did not give the cost of the equipment, there are indications that the equipment could run into more than N4.5 billion.
Yakubu, who admitted that what they have now are monitors, said that FAAN had already made provision for more scanners which are expected to arrive this weekend. Her words: “These scanners will take care of everybody. You know what we have now are the monitors.
It is because FAAN wanted to comply with the 30-day executive order, so we used what we have on ground to start implementation.
The scanners are coming in this weekend.
“We have been able to collapse all the different desks at the airport into one. If you go to MMIA at the screening section, you will find out that the FAAN AVSEC, Quarantine and a few other security agencies are there. All of them are there now to check the luggage of passengers coming into the airport.
We no longer have different desks at the airport. We don’t have Customs, Quarantine and others separate, but have collapsed all of them into one”.
Aviation security expert, Group Capt. John Ojikutu (rtd) said contrary to reports, manual screening has not stopped. He said what has stopped is multiple screening by diversified security agencies. Ojikutu explained that the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) allows manual screening if the screening machines fail. For many years, long tables were strategically positioned beside check-in counters.
All the security officials take turn to check same luggage, thereby creating delays for airlines to check-in passengers and also leading to several hours of unnecessary delay. In other climes, it takes less than 20 minutes to check-in and go through screening.
In Nigeria, it could take as long as three hours or more because of manual checks which showed that there were not enough baggage screening machines. Frequent travellers told Woleshadare.net that the manual screening by the uniformed is not only archaic but no longer in tandem with global practice.
Google+