The recent incident involving Azman Airline and a stowaway at the Murtala Muhammed Airport, Lagos, has once again laid bare the loose security system in the nation’s airports. Expectedly, aviation experts have described it as a system failure and have urged the Federal Government to, as a matter of urgency, address the security lapses at the nation’s airports.
Apart from denting the country’s image, it is indeed a national embarrassment. It is in this light that we urge the aviation authorities to urgently put in place adequate security measures to forestall such in future. While we call for a thorough investigation of the matter to unearth the immediate and remote causes, we suggest that all the security officers on duty during the day of the incident must be interrogated and those found culpable should be given condign punishment.
The importance of security at the nation’s airports must be emphasised at all times. This underscores the need for security officials at the airports to be alert at all times and where there are breaches, nothing should be spared to plug the loopholes. Treating any security threat with levity is dangerous and can lead to disastrous consequences. The Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) has a critical role to play in this direction. As the agency statutorily charged to manage all commercial airports in Nigeria and provide service to passenger and cargo airlines in Nigeria, its commitment to ensure improved security and passenger safety at airports must neither waiver nor shrink. The provision and maintenance of airports’ essential services and facilities for safe, orderly and expeditious operation of air transport should be deepened.
Although we commend the swift reaction of the agency to the incident by suspending and replacing all the security heads at the airport, we call for stiffer penalties and added measures that will rekindle hope and confidence in our airports which may have been broken by this ugly incident. It is equally reassuring that the agency described it “as a serious security concern” and pledged to “ascertain the causes of this incident and forestall future occurrence”.
The incident is just one among many stowaways in Nigeria’s aviation industry. We recall that in 2013, a 13- year-old boy hid himself in the wheel well of an aircraft which flew from Benin to Lagos. This was followed some weeks later by another stowaway incident involving a Nigerian airline which ended in tragedy in the US. There is no doubt that the incidents of stowaways at the nation’s airports could have been aided by security lapses and corrupt airport officials. The porous security situation at the nation’s airports must have been responsible for unauthorised persons to have gained access to the restricted areas of the airports. This must not be allowed to continue. The lack of perimeter fence around the airports is a matter that should be quickly reviewed.
To enhance security and ensure air safety, we call for urgent illumination of all the airports and the provision of CCTV cameras at Nigeria’s airports. We acknowledge the presence and involvement of the Police, Air Force and FAAN’s security guards in securing the airports, but it is baffling that these efforts have failed to guarantee effective security at the airports. At a time when there is increasing terrorism threat, there is urgent need for more vigilance at the airports to prevent such incidents. We must do everything humanly possible to ensure safety at our airports. The airports must be safe places where flight operations can be carried out without hitches. We remind the airlines of their own responsibilities to enhance the safety of their aircraft. A clause in the airline’s Approved Air Operator Security Programme (AAOS) recognises that the responsibility of securing aircraft when not in service lies with the airport operator. Nevertheless, all stakeholders must work together to ensure safety at the airports.