… Security operatives lament financial losses
Following the full implementation of the Executive Order as directed by the Acting President Prof. Yemi Osinbajo by management of Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), sanity has finally returned to once corruption invested Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos even as security operatives who benefitted from the insanity lament their losses.
The full implementation of the Presidential Order in the Lagos airport came to full effect when the Managing Director / Chief Executive Officer of FAAN Engr. Saleh Dunoma after an official visit to the terminal directed that manual screening of passengers in the airport should be stopped while every security tables in front of airlines’ check in counters should be removed..
With this directive, many personnel of security agencies operating the screening tables became unhappy and played every trick to truncate the directive because they can no longer extort both arriving and departing passengers.
African Business Travel News (ABTN) learnt the affected security personnel used to engage in daily contribution of about N30, 000 each.
With this enforcement, all illegal activities are gone. A daily contribution collection agent in the airport, who spoke under the condition of anonymity with our correspondent this afternoon, lamented that contributions from the unscrupulous security operatives have dropped significantly since Monday evening when the full implementation of the Executive Order began..
This government policy is affecting business in the airport. As a daily contribution collecting agent I feel it more. Since Monday when the full implementation of the Executive Order started my client no longer have money to do their contributions again many of them are even telling me they may have to withdraw if the policy continues,” the collector lamented.
However, operatives of Nigerian Agricultural Quarantine Services (NAQS) in the airport are yet to comply with the Executive Order. ABTN investigations revealed that the operatives go to the ramps to open passengers luggage to remove their belongings after the luggage have been screened with the different machines installed in the airport.
Confirming the restoration of sanity into the airport, FAAN’s spokesperson, Mrs. Henrietta Yakubu in a statement said “Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) registers its satisfaction on the success with the compliance on Executive Order by agencies at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport Lagos. The physical check tables at the departure hall of the terminal is been removed, also the desks belonging to Nigerian Customs Service (NCS) and Nigerian Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) following the last screening by the FAAN’s Aviation Security.
“Engr. Saleh Dunoma, the Managing Director/ Chief Executive Officer expressed the agency’s satisfaction while inspecting the terminal to ascertain the level of compliance by participating agencies.
“The desks that have been there for manual search are no longer there. The checks are being done at appropriate locations and this has created a tidy hall. This has improved the ambience of the departure hall. Of course, we have some issues that have to do with the first day normally in any operations. We are trying to resolve that”, said FAAN MD
“We have asked the management of the airport to come up with a complete and comprehensive report with the issues emanating from this operation, so we can further proffer solutions. The whole terminal is very neat and tidy now.”
She added that FAAN Managing Director implore passengers to arrive the terminal early enough because of the new arrangement. “My advice to passengers is that they should come in good time, so they can accomplish the process as scheduled. There are some new locations and process of screening, so they earlier the come the easier for stakeholders especially the airlines and the security agencies to finish their procedures”.
Commenting on Delta Airlines’ issue with their procedures Dunoma said, “It is not anything peculiar. They want to do certain checks; we will tell them where to do the checks. We are not stopping anybody from checking anything, so long as it is in line with global standard of practice. The Executive Order does not stop that. We will handle Delta Airline issue.
