Louis Ibah

Air passengers passing through Nigeria’s airports should be prepared to face stricter security checks as the country takes proactive steps to forestall possible terrorist attacks on its aviation infrastructure following threats by the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) to attack commercial flights and bring “bloodshed to the skies.”

Nigeria’s intelligence institutions last week raised a red flag of movement of some members of the terrorist group into the country calling for security upgrade at the airports.
The alert means that passengers must conduct self scrutiny on their persons and luggage contents to ensure that incriminating objects, particularly undeclared firearms, inflammable and toxic substances, machetes and knifes are not found on them during screening processes at the airports. Aside the time wasting that would be associated with the security profiling of passengers caught with such unauthorised objects, there is also the possibility of facing prosecution for being in possession of deadly weapons that could bring harm to other passengers and crew.

Govt warning letter

The Federal Government, upon receipt of the letter issued by Al-Abd al-Faqir Media, a pro-ISIS media outlet, issued a letter of alert from the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation to the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) and the Comptroller General, Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) and all security establishments working at the country’s airports to intensify the screening process of all passengers and luggage and to be more vigilant to forestall any potential security breach at their duty posts.

The letter from the Nigerian government read in part: “Available report reveals that Al-Abd al-Faqir Media, a pro-ISIS media outlet, is warning of plans to attack commercial flights and bring bloodshed to the skies. The warning was accompanied by an image of a clean-shaved dark haired man sitting on the aisle seat of a flight with a knife in his hand.” ISIS appears to be re-strategising with more focus on the Middle East and Asia, following the loss of most of its territory in Iraq and Syria. Although Africa appears not to be on ISIS’ immediate focus, the return to Africa of former ISIS fighters from Iraq and Syria as well as the existence of ISIS-linked groups such as the technically suave Abu Musab Al-Barnawi-led Boko Haram faction, call for increased vigilance in the aviation sector to counter possible new strategies in the ISIS terror campaign.

“Statements from ISIS affiliated media groups such as Al-Abd al-fair are often used to advise followers on the new attack methods and targets. The image of a white man with a knife in his hand suggests that the attack could be carried out with a knife as was the case during the 9/11 attacks in the US in 2001.”

ISIS had claimed responsibility for the explosion and death of all 224 passengers aboard the Russian Metrojet flight 9268 shortly after take-off from Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula in October 2015.

“From the foregoing report, rigorous vetting of airline personnel and screening of passengers as well as increased vigilance on restricted areas at (Nigerian) airports are advised,” the statement added.

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A joint military task force response

FAAN, in its response, said it has heightened security at five of the country’s international airports, namely, Lagos, Abuja, Kano, Port Harcourt and Enugu, to forestall any attacks and keep the environment safe and secured for passengers and airport users.

Daily Sun learnt that aside the ordinary police and intelligence security from the Department of State Security (DSS), FAAN has boosted security at the five airports with the establishment of joint military task force comprising officers from all arms of the country’s armed forces. The task force has the mandate of keeping a close eye on the perimeter fences, the cargo areas, the runways and other restricted areas of the five international airports.

Spokeswoman for FAAN, Mrs. Henrietta Yakubu, said extra attention would be paid to the screening of baggage before entering the terminal building of the airports and that passengers should be aware that any suspicious baggage would be isolated and manually checked by operatives of the Bomb Detection Unit of the Nigeria Police Force, the quarantine, and the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) officials.

“We have established the joint military task force at all of our major airports, especially the international airports, and they are working hard and helping us to check that such thing (terrorist attack) does not happen at our airports,” Yakubu said.
“Security patrol around the departure and arrival terminals of the international airports are on and CCTV cameras are also mounted to monitor activities within and around the airport environments to forestall any form of security breach,” she added.

Passenger attitude

Passengers must understand that once a country raises an alert that security personnel are subsequently empowered to take discretionary actions such as the random stop and search of passengers and their luggage. It could also happen that the security officials become very aggressive in their approach. A high level of corporation and patience from passengers is, therefore, needed as they go through security checks and screening at each security post during this period. If accosted, passengers should be very polite to provide simple answers to questions about their identity, career, travel destination, and luggage contents. It should also be noted that this is certainly not the time to engage in terrorism related conversations, even in form of jokes at any of the country’s airports as CCTV cameras are mounted in the terminal buildings and car parks to pick up such passengers for further interrogation.

Expert advice

Aviation security consultant and scribe of the Aviation Round Table (ART), Group Captain John Ojikutu (retd), has flayed recent information put out by the Secretary to Government of the Federation (SGF) directing agencies in the aviation industry to beef up security, stating that the situation was supposed to be handled on a need-to-know basis instead of tipping the terrorists that the country was on to them.