Last Friday the supporters and loyalists of the former governor of Sokoto State and now Senator representing Sokoto North, Aliyu Wamakko broke into the restricted area of the Sokoto airport, thus exposing the pilots, passengers and aircraft to danger. Chinedu Eze writes that many airports in the country are not fortified and therefore are exposed to such danger.
The invasion of the Sultan Abubakar 111 International Airport, Sokoto by the supporters and loyalists of Senator Aliyu Wamakko last Friday was not the first time such incident has happened at the airports in Nigeria. What is peculiar about the invasion was the fact that some of the supporters rode into the runway with their motorcycles.
The dexterous motorcycle riders manoeuvered their machines all through the taxiway of the airport, forcing the taxiing aircraft to stop midway, instead of going to the tarmac to disembark its passengers. If they had bombs they could have easily thrown it at the aircraft. No one profiled them before they accessed the airport territory.
The incident says a lot about the Sokoto airport. It is not only that its restricted and sterile areas could be accessed by unwarranted persons, the territory is too large for the Federal Airports Authority (FAAN) security apparatus to monitor. It would also cost a whooping sum of money for FAAN to fence the airport to fortify its security.
Regulations
According to the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) regulations, which evolved after the September 11, 2001 terror attacks in the US, every airport should have security and perimeter fencing. Security fence protects the whole airport from unwarranted access to persons not billed to be at the airport, while perimeter fencing protects the airside restricted and sterile area.
Many airports have perimeter fencing; some like the Abuja and Port Harcourt airports are completed; some are not completed. Ideally, there should be comprehensive two layers of fencing, in accordance to standard ICAO regulation.
Reacting to last Friday’s incident at Sokoto airport, the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) said it received the reports of “a huge crowd that flagrantly broke all security rules and gained unauthorised access to the safety critical areas of the airport. These include runway, taxiway and apron.”
NCAA noted that the Nigerian Civil Aviation Regulations (Nig.CARs) Part 17.48.3(c), stipulates that “access by persons and vehicles to restricted areas, enhanced security restricted areas and sterile areas is restricted only to persons who have a clear need for such access by virtue of their duties.”
The agency went further to note that the National Civil Aviation Security Programme (NCASP), 6.3.1. states, “in accordance with the appropriate legislation, no person to whom the legislation applies, shall enter or remain in a restricted area, enhanced security restricted area, or tenant restricted area unless that person has in his or her possession a restricted area or tenant restricted area permit in respect of that restricted area or tenant restricted area and complies with all conditions of issuance of the Permit.”
Hero Worship
In most of the airports in Nigeria, supporters of politicians and traditional rulers overwhelm airport security apparatus and force themselves into the tarmac. Sometimes FAAN would be able to contain them at the airports under its management. Sometimes, when FAAN officials could not contain them, they open up the gates, but police and other security operatives restrict their movement in the airside.
This has been witnessed in many parts of the country. This attitude takes a notch higher during electioneering periods, when politicians are gearing for election.
In condemning the Sokoto airport incident last weekend, FAAN warned that such action was against international standard practices and the regulations of ICAO and NCAA.
In the aviation circles, it is considered a security breach which may lead to the downgrade or outright closure of the airport and FAAN noted that the incident was “a gross violation of the security and safety arrangements at the airport, as thousands of political loyalists violently accessed restricted areas at the airport, breaking down the airport fence in the process and resisting all security machineries in place.”
According to international practices, the airside of the airport cannot be accessed by unauthorised persons for security reasons in order to ensure that incendiary devices or other dangerous objects are not taken to the restricted area of the airport where aircraft lands and takes off.
“The airport environment is a highly regulated environment and should be seen as such. As the 2019 general elections is drawing closer, the Authority will like to advise the general public, especially politicians and their supporters to ensure compliance with all rules and regulations at the airports, as we will not compromise security and safety at our airports for any reason,” FAAN spokes person, Mrs. Henrietta Yakubu also said.
Prevention
On Tuesday top officials of FAAN and NCAA met with the Minister of State, Aviation, Hadi Sirika to deliberate on how to prevent such incident from happening again at any of the nation’s airports.
THISDAY learnt that at the meeting it was acknowledged that supporters of politicians and traditional leaders cannot be prevented from coming to the airport. They also acknowledged that it is a sensitive matter, which must be dealt with carefully because crowd support is part of politicking in Nigeria.
At the meeting, it was agreed that every airport under FAAN management should have designated areas where such supporters should wait for their leaders. They also agreed that airport management and FAAN would have to sensitise politicians on the matter and stress the importance of security at the airports.
Critical Security Challenge
The invasion of the restricted area of the airport is a serious security challenge. But the decision FAAN has taken may be in tune with what the aviation security expert, Ayo Obilana said might be the solution of the regular invasion of airport airside by supporters of politicians.
Obilana who is the Chief Executive Officer of Selective Security International Limited acknowledged that it will be difficult to keep the supporters and other leaders away from the airports. But he suggested that first, concerned authorities should talk to the politicians and with their mutual understanding, an area should be designated at the airport for such supporters.
Obilana said FAAN should reinforce security to protect vulnerable and valuable areas of the airport. He recalled that in the days of the Late Aminu Kano that people run to airside of the airport to welcome him.
“They broke the fences, so you need not lock the gates because they will break them. But what you should do is that you meet the supporters and ask them to comply with the rules and regulations of the airport, open the gates because no matter what you do, you cannot stop them.
“I had witnessed this live. No matter what you do, you cannot stop them. It will be absolutely impossible to contain them. And there is no need to apportion blames about what happened but we have to take precautionary measures to ensure that such does not happen again. Most of the time they spend 15 to 20 minutes and they leave the airport,” Obilana said.
Fortifying Security
Many airports in the country today don’t have comprehensive security fencing; the same with perimeter fencing, which barricades the airside of the airport from encroachers and other unwanted persons. They are known as inner and outer perimeter fencing.
It has now become very urgent that the fences should be built to secure the airport environment. It is still ironical that despite the insufficient fencing of the Lagos and Abuja airports they were still certified by NCAA.
FAAN Aviation Security (AVSEC) officials are recongnised by ICAO as responsible for managing airport security. The experts said the support AVSEC is getting from the Nigerian police and Nigerian Air Force for the landside of the airports can only go to the extent that it controls the entry and exit of passengers and other airports users but it cannot help protecting the airside of the airport, which is highly restricted. It is the responsibility of AVSEC officials to do so.
They also warned that insider threat becomes high when operatives who are not trained in aviation are made to take significant roles in aviation security management, noting that either government makes it a permanent policy that the other paramilitary operatives would now work permanently with AVSEC officials which now requires they must go for aviation security training. In addition for the training, AVSEC officials should be profiled at regularly interval.
Nigeria’s Lax Security System
According to aviation security experts, there is total laxity in the airport security system in the country. With global terror threat so close to the country now, experts said that Nigerian security system may not be prepared to effectively fight terror attacks because it would need advanced technology to detect possible incendiary devices hidden in electronic gadgets and it has to monitor the precincts of the airport to ensure that unwarranted people do not gain access.
Although FAAN has installed Close Circuit Television (CCTV) at the major international airports in the country, other airports have not been covered by the equipment, which monitors movements of people and actions around the airport.
At the airport in Kebbi, there is centralized CCTV which monitors every parts of the airport, especially movements around the fences to ensure that intruders do not enter the airport environment without notice.
FAAN should replicate this system at all its airports. In many airports in country including that of Port Harcourt, Kaduna and Abuja airport, host communities of the airports have their own routes of movement carved inside the airport territory.
When the renovation and upgrade of the Kaduna airport was going on, villagers from the host community were moving about the airside on their daily chores. At the Port Harcourt airport, villagers come to rinse their farm produce in the sun at the airside.
FAAN must have to close these loopholes to ensure that the airports are fully secure and protected from intruders, including potential attackers.
THISDAY
