Security operatives at the nation’s airports have imbibed the extortion of passengers as a culture and this has grave implications.
An activist, Lanre David Lijadu recently wrote on his Facebook account what he went through on arrival and departure from the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos. He painted a sordid picture of how security operatives extort money from travellers and make it obvious that you may not have any choice than to part with money.
“This holiday season is the worse time to travel to Nigeria or leave Nigeria via the airport in Lagos. I was ashamed to see almost all the officials including janitors begging for money from travellers. Yes, it’s a shame. Many of the passengers gave money to these officials as they passed through the checks at the departure hall. Sometimes, it not just begging, its blackmail – a matter of if you don’t give, you might experience the worse, including missing your flight which may cost you more than giving a thousand naira or more to get moving without trauma.
“I thought that I would not do the same. I told my daughter that I was not going to do like others no matter what. I was wrong. These guys were determined to waste my time if I thought I was stronger, wiser, decent or whatever than others that passed before me. They broke my strong spirit. I wept inside. I felt like I should go back to Nigeria to start a revolution.
“They didn’t even check my bag as was the case of many travellers before me. Rather, they were waiting for me to give them money. When I hesitated, one of the officers checking the bags asked me to give them something for the holiday. I asked what? She said anything for the holiday as she stared at my traveling bag as if it was nothing to worry about.
I stood there for a moment and when there was no action (she literally stood there – not opening my bag to look at the contents to see if I was carrying AK 47, a hand gun or grenade, materials that could bring down the plane, or illegal drugs) and looked at me with eyes that says: “I don’t care.” Then pushed my bag to the other “big” officer that said, “Oga, don’t just stand there, do something.” What followed cannot be written here, but your guess is as good.”
Lijadu has captured what takes place everyday at the nation’s major gateways in Lagos and Abuja, and other airports. Extortion and soliciting for money have become an old culture in Nigeria. But what surprises everyone is that it has not been able to be stamped out. This has made many to ask if those in authority have tried or are they part of the conspiracy?
Missing Flights
Many travellers are illegally barred from travelling because they refused to bribe some persons among the security operatives. From the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) to the Nigerian Customs Service, Port Health, Quarantine, Police Bomb disposal, Military Police and the Nigerian Immigration Service, the situation is the same.
The Lagos airport and other international airports in Nigeria have been classified by the International Air Transport Association (IATA) and other world bodies of having a high number of security operatives.
This slows down check-in process as it makes a passenger spends more time on screening before he gets to the boarding gate. But despite these many security officials, illicit activities still take place at the airports.
Aviation expert, Ayo Obilana at the Aviation Round Table (ART) breakfast meeting recently explained why there is laxity of security at the Nigerian airports. He said most of the security operatives extort money from passengers and other airport users,stressing that as long as security personnel ask for gratification, security would be impeded.
“An average traveller at the Nigerian airport goes through 15 checks. We are the only country that still operate “dash” table (security operatives use to open and check passengers’ luggage), which is table of extortion. The tables have no reason to be there. These 15 checks can be reduced to three. The tables are a big disgrace to the country. When the security personnel there are told to remove that section of checks they blackmail government officers by bringing prohibited goods they claim were discovered on that table,” Obilana said.
Extortion and insider threat
According to analysts, porous security system becomes gullible to pressures by terror groups. For instance, the explosion of Russian airliner after it took off from the Sharm al-Sheik airport, Egypt and killed 224 persons on board was confirmed by investigation as insider facilitated job. Although investigations have not made it clear but the suspicion is strong that an insider facilitated the terrorist attack, consisting of shootings and suicide bombings, which occurred on 28 June 2016 at Atatürk Airport in Istanbul, Turkey. Gunmen armed with automatic weapons and explosive belts staged a simultaneous attack at the international terminal of Terminal 2. Forty-five people were killed, in addition to the three attackers, and more than 230 people were injured.
Former Managing Director of FAAN, Richard Aisuebeogun said that insider threat is a great challenge to airport security because terrorists could use money to secure insider collaborator or through religious or political belief.
SSS and immigration
Passengers, who travel through the Lagos airports complain of the long process of passport checks from the Department Security Service (DSS) to Immigration, then to the Nigerian Customs officials and the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA).
According to a senior Immigration official, DSS is supposed to be carrying out undercover operation and should not share the same desks with Immigration, but this has been allowed to go on for some time and is now a tradition. So the passenger had to go through the DSS official before screening by Immigration.
The official, who spoke to THISDAY said that now DSS and Immigration have separate counters. They feel that they have been disengaged so no deals for them.
“The whole essence of everybody flocking to the airport is because the airport is a cash cow. They threaten passengers and extort money from them. But the one that annoys me most is the barring of a passenger who has met every condition to travel from travelling. Nigerians suffer so much and it is because many of them do not know their rights.
“Although all those other security services are at the airport but any suspect index comes to us (Immigration). Having the same counters gives room for extortion. According to international regulations, security service jobs should be undercover operation, but no one wants to be left out of the illegal business that goes on with passengers,” the official said.
He said that the security operatives create fear in the passengers and make travelling very uncomfortable for them, adding that the fear is to create a nefarious atmosphere to extort the passengers.
Aviation security consultant, Group Captain John Ojikutu (rtd) told THISDAY that extortion by security operatives at the airports could be eliminated by having a single line of operational control and command at the airports like the Transport Security Administration (TSA) of the United States. He said that the problem caused by aviation operators staff can be eliminated by the automation of all payments within the various agencies and between them.
He said that regular background checks are necessary on all staff members working in the airport security control areas.
“Immigration can delay passengers who are on government watch list but they have the responsibility of informing the concerned airline. If any immigration officer is in the habit of extorting money from passengers without thorough examination and profiling, there is the possibility of camels or moles of all types on no-fly list, slipping through the needle’s eye,” Ojikutu said.
FAAN and CCTV
The Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria is in charge of the Close Circuit Television (CCTV) installed at various locations of the airport to monitor activities for security reasons. THISDAY gathered from a top AVSEC official that many of these CCTVs are not working. Those that are working are not monitored.
That explains why security operatives unabashedly extort money from passengers. Nobody checks them. THISDAY gathered that many of those security officials from Immigration, Customs, NDLEA and others claim that they are answerable to their organisations and not to the FAAN authorities.
Yet the agency (FAAN), which is in charge of the airports, is recognised by the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO), IATA, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) of the US and other international bodies as the management of the airports, security and all.
So even if the CCTV uncovers illegal activities by these security operatives other than AVSEC, FAAN may not have the power to enforce punitive measures.
Reports indicate that sometimes FAAN takes it up with the headquarters of these organisations like the Nigeria Immigration Service, the Nigerian Customs Services and others, but such complaints are purposely subsumed into oblivion by apparent bureaucracy aimed at sweeping such complaints under the carpet.
There are reports that many of these security operatives bribe their way to be deployed to the airports and they continuously express their appreciation to their bosses.
FAAN’s senior security official recently told THISDAY that the CCTVs are monitored 24 hours a day and if there is any issue the person involved can meet the Chief Security Officer with date and time the event occurred and the camera would be reviewed.
“The CCTV is monitored 24/7. That is the engine room of security. It does not cover everywhere now because of the expansion. If you raise any issue it will be recalled to view what happened. You just meet the Chief Security Officer of the airport. We have so many security cameras; some are working; some are not,” the FAAN official told THISDAY.
But analysts said this is contradicted by realities. According to them, if these CCTVs are working how many of these security operatives and others extorting money from passengers have the cameras captured and how many of them have been sanctioned? There was no record that the security agencies sanction workers over extortion in recent times.
The solution to extortion, as Ojikutu suggested is that there should be central control for aviation security activities, stressing that FAAN should have the power to determine and sack any security official from any of the agencies who extort or solicit for money.
He added that above all, the federal government should extend its anti-corruption fight to the airports and tame the excesses of these extortionists.
THISDAY
