Hard times await violators of airport rules and anti-touting regulations as they will soon be subjected to instant justice at the magistrate courts the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) has concluded plans to establish in airport premises across the country.
The Managing Director/Chief Executive of FAAN, Mrs Olubunmi Kuku, made this known during the meeting held on 14th August 2024, between her management and heads of security agencies at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport (NAIA), Abuja.
The meeting was organised to among others intimate airport stakeholders on recent happening at the airport, educate them on the strategic goals of the current management, and discuss ways of enhancing passenger experience and facilitation.
The FAAN MD at the meeting identified the presence of touts and loitering by members of the public as a major challenge to making genuine airport users comfortable.
According to Kuku: “There are people who have absolutely no business being at the airport, and they continue to create issues for us.
“We have an anti-touting taskforce, and as it is, we are going to start the prosecution onsite of those engaging in these illicit activities or loitering around the airport environment and harassing passengers This doesn’t happen elsewhere around the world, and the airport should be a safe space.”
She also cited how car hire operators have been violating processes and protocol, warning that such behaviour would no longer be tolerated.
Kuku reiterated the need to reduce manual baggage search at the international wing of the airport, revealing that a process would be put in place where baggage will go through screening machines, while security officials will view the contents real-time and only pull aside luggage that requires secondary screening.
“We have to streamline our efforts. We need to improve processes at the airport. This is the 21st century, and we must keep up with the times,” she said.
The MD further announced that with the pace of ongoing work, the Terminal C of the Abuja airport would be ready for use by December 2024.
She added that more work would be done to develop more international routes to take advantage of the International Terminal, which she described as “extremely underutilised.”
The Military Airport Commandant at Abuja airport, Group Captain Abbas Hashim, on behalf of the other security agencies, thanked the FAAN MD for convening the meeting, calling for more regular meetings and also better cooperation between the agencies and FAAN.
In attendance from FAAN Management were the Director of Engineering Services, Engineer Abiola Muniru Adejare; Director of Airport Operations, Captain Abdulahi Mohmood; Director of Special Duties, Henry Agbebire; Regional Manager NAIA, Alhaji Gambo Aboki; and Mrs Ibijoke Olatunji, General Manager Operations.
