WARNING: Nigerian airports exposed to terrorist attacks- Security experts

Experts in the Nigerian aviation industry have warned that there are security breaches that make the country’s airports vulnerable to terrorist attacks.

Speaking with The Punch, Alhaji Muhammed Tukur, a former assistant secretary general of the Airline Operators of Nigeria, noted that there are obvious lapses in the aviation security system that must be fixed immediately.

“We have requirements by the International Civil Aviation Organisation, the United Nations agency that regulates the global aviation industry, which Nigeria must meet.


“The current state of the nation’s airport calls for concern. It is beyond what most people are thinking; Nigeria is a major country in the world and it is time for us to take our airport security very serious. We have seen what happened to AirFrance crew and the Russian plane in Egypt,” he said.

Ayo Obilana, who is an aviation security expert and chief executive officer of Selective Security Limited, also agreed that there are security lapses at the airports.

According to him, the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) lacks such necessary security equipment as 3D body scanners, adequate CCTV cameras, explosive detectors and modern X-Ray machines.

Obilana said that the federal government should help to buy these equipment because the FAAN does not have enough money.

The expert added that there is another security flaw, which is a lack of coordination among the various security agencies providing security at the airports with the agencies working at cross purposes.

“We are caught in the era of global insurgency and Boko Haram in Nigeria. We need to improve on intelligence gather and seek to control arms importation into the country,” he noted.

According to John Ojikutu, the chief executive officer of Centurion Aviation Security Consult, there is danger of inadequate manpower and insiders’ threat.

He explained that sometimes overworked aviation security officials become too tired to properly examine hand luggage and effectively profile the passengers through the X-Ray machines.

“We need to look at insiders’ threat. Do we do a background check on the airport staff, who are paid peanuts?

“I’m talking of those who clean the aircraft, its toilets, baggage loaders, etc. They could be given peanut to compromise the safety of passengers. Insider threat is rising and Nigeria must do something about it urgently,” he said.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, FAAN’s security officials said that there are only four 3D body scanners at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Lagos, but only two of them are serviceable. They added that they are about 12 units of baggage X-Ray machines at the airport, but only few of them are used.
Meanwhile, the Port Harcourt International Airport has topped the list of 2015 worst airports in the world.

The voters from all over the world suggested that aside from ranking the airport as the worst, it should also be rated the most corrupt airport in the world.