How did he get into the wheel of the Lagos-bound Arik Air plane undetected at the Benin Airport in Edo State last Saturday? Some say thay saw him going under the plane, yet nothing was done to fish him out until the plane took off and landed in Lagos. Did he do it alone or was he aided? KELVIN OSA OKUNBOR reports.
SOMETHING must have wrong. What went wrong remains the question. If nothing had not gone wrong, tenager Daniel Ihekina, would not have accessed the wheel well of an Arik Air plane to stow away.
Since that incident, the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) and Arik Air have been bickering over what went wrong. None wants to accept blame.
While FAAN is blaming the airline for the lapse, Arik is pointing fingers at the authority. It challenged the authority to explain how the teenager beat security checks at the Benin Airport in Edo State to hide in the wheel well of a plane.
Arik said: ”We are worried by the incessant security lapses at our airports. We are appealing to the management of FAAN to immediately address the problem.”
FAAN Managing Director George Uriesi said the authority has taken steps to ensure that all airports are secured through the phased airport perimeter fencing that started a few years.
He said the government’s assessment tests have been carried out to block leakages, adding that FAAN is training its personnel on how to secure the airports.
FAAN’s General Manager, Corporate Communication (FAAN), Mr Yakubu Dati, said perimeter fencing remains one of the cardinal areas in the airport infrastructure project, saying since 2011, the authority has worked out a schedule for the fencing.
He cited airports where the operational and non-operational areas have been completed, to include Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Ikeja, Lagos, Mallam Aminu Kano International Airport, Kano, Margeret Ekpo International Airport, Calabar, and the Port Harcourt International Airport.
Dati said the authority had acquired some operational vehicles for its security personnel to carry out surveillance on the airside, to prevent interference.
The personnel were being trained, adding there is huge investment in technology.
A security expert Babatunde Olu said FAAN should de-emphasise physical security and focus on intelligence gathering and use of technology.
“The security protocols implemented at any airports are not only those things you can see with your eyes, or hear; a lot evolve from a well-articulated and approved national security programme, which is a resultant document based on a painstakingly documented security risk assessment and safety management system.”
He said the training of security staff and other security operatives was also required.
Last year, security agencies devised ways of securing the airports. The personnel from FAAN, security unit, Nigeria Police, Nigeria Immigration Service, Nigeria Customs Service, State Security Service, National Civil Defence Corps and the Nigeria Air Force promised to redouble their efforts at improving security.
Deputy Commissioner of Police, Airport Command, Mr Haliru Gwandu, said the synergy among the agencies must be strengthened to keep potential unauthorised persons at bay from the airport.
Gwandu called for more logistics for the Police to do their job, especially in perimeter patrol, arrest of miscreants and other unlawful interferences on the land and airside.
He appealed to the authorities to put the right pegs in the right holes to avoid compromise among security agencies, adding that security is everyone’s duty.
Other participants called for the deployment of the latest security technologies to assist airport security agencies achieve success in protecting the airports and its teeming passengers.
