The Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria, (FAAN) has said it would require at least N25 billion to construct perimeter and operational fences across all the 22 airports it manages.
The General Manager, Corporate Affairs of FAAN, Yakubu Dati told newsmen at the agency’s headquarters in Lagos that the sum was arrived at after a recent survey carried out by the authority.
There have been reports of encroachment on airport lands at virtually all the airports in the country. Even the four major airports in Lagos, Abuja, Portharcourt and Kano are not fully fenced whereas the ICAO security guidelines recommend that all airports must be secured with double perimeter fences.
Dati disclosed that each of the 22 airports is about 50 kilometres long and would require huge investments for them to be properly fenced to the standard recommended by the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO).
Dati who assured all the airports’ users of absolute security and safety of humans, cargo and equipment at all times said there are other safety measures FAAN has taken in line with international best practices to boost security and safety within the nation’s airports.
Among these measures, he said, were the introduction of the perimeter patrol and construction of perimeter towers which enables aviation security personnel and other security agencies to have a full overview of the airport environment, adding that FAAN had installed latest technologies in strategic locations to increase surveillance.
He added that the authority had been able to tackle insider threat, saying, “We profile anybody that works within the terminal or in the terminal in line with global standards. It is after passing that we issue them the On-Duty-Card (ODC). Even at that, the ODC also has some levels of restrictions such that it is not every holder that has access to every part of the terminal. We have different levels and colours based on the level of clearance you have received.”
Dati described airport as an enabler to the nation’s economy which contributes about $1billion annually while providing more than 300,000 jobs.
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