The federal government has concluded plans to streamline the screening of passengers at the international airports and deploy security equipment to reduce human interface in order to end the allegation of the harassment of travellers by security operatives.
This will also reduce multiple screenings of passengers, which will save time and end the highhandedness of some security personnel who allegedly extort money from passengers and unduly delay passengers who refuse to give them money until they miss their flights.
This was disclosed yesterday by the Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo, as a guest on local TV station, where he said the new system would be modelled like the US Transport Security Administration (TSA).
Keyamo believes that this is the most effective way to curb interaction between passengers and security personnel at the airport, including the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), Aviation Security of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria, the Nigeria Immigration Service, the Nigerian Customs Service, the Quarantine, the Nigeria Air Force and the Nigeria Police.
Keyamo said his Ministry has complained to the National Security Adviser, Nuhu Ribadu, over the harassment some Nigerians face at the hands of some security agents stationed at various airports in Nigeria, saying that he gets loads of reports about the misbehaviours of some of the security operatives at the airports.
The Minister said even though these actions are not by officials of the Aviation Ministry, he has approached the NSA to address them because he is concerned about the harassment of passengers.
“We have complained to the National Security Adviser on this because we are concerned about the harassment of Nigerians. Take note, it is not aviation, it is not Keyamo, I see people tagging me all the time, ‘somebody just asked for a bribe from me’, but it is somebody from another agency,” Keyamo said on the programme.
“They tag me all the time, it is not me, it is not aviation. We have to complain to the office of the national security adviser who is doing a lot on this.”
The Minister disclosed that the NSA has acquired about 1,000 body cameras for security agencies for better monitoring of activities at the airports.
“I have mentioned before, that the training is almost over now, he bought 1,000 body cameras that all the agencies will wear. We just want to go through the training first. There is a command centre for this where everybody will see exactly the moving cameras on everybody’s chest,” he said
Keyamo disagreed with calls for most of the security agencies to be pulled out of the airports, but said their operations must be monitored to ensure that it meets the standard required.
He recalled the arrests of drug traffickers at the airports by NDLEA and that such justifies why these agencies should be at the airport.
“These agencies should be at the airports but they should be out of you. They should have their cubicles inside. It is when you suspect somebody that you pull him out and take him to a restricted zone and check the person.
“Not that every stop you see NDLEA checking your bag, DSS checking your bag and all that – that is what we don’t want, that is what Nigerians don’t want and that is why we must do to please Nigerians,” he said.
