The Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) has concluded plans to establish a magistrate court at airports across the country for the immediate trial of offenders who defy anti-touting and other airport regulations.
The Managing Director of FAAN, Mrs. Olubunmi Kuku, who made this known yesterday, during a meeting between FAAN management and heads of security agencies at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport (NAIA), Abuja, said violators of airport rules would be subjected to instant judgement.
FAAN’s Director of Public Affairs and Consumer Protection, Mrs. Obiageli Orah, said in a statement that the meeting was organised to intimate airport stakeholders on recent happenings at the airport; to educate them on the strategic goals of the current management, and discuss ways of enhancing passenger experience and facilitation.
Kuku identified the presence of touts and loitering by members of the public as a major challenge to making genuine airport users comfortable.
“There are people who have absolutely no business being at the airport, and they continue to create issues for us. We have an anti-touting task force, and as it is, we are going to start the prosecution onsite of those engaging in these illicit activities or loitering around the airport environment and harassing passengers This doesn’t happen elsewhere around the world, and the airport should be a safe space,” she added.
She disclosed that she was aware of car hire operators violating processes and protocol and warned that such behaviour would no longer be tolerated.
Kuku, reiterated the need to reduce manual baggage search at the international wing of the airport, promising that a process would be put in place where baggage would go through screening machines, and security officials would view the contents in real-time and only pull aside luggage that requires secondary screening.
“We have to streamline our efforts. We need to improve processes at the airport. This is the 21st century, and we must keep up with the times,” she said.
The FAAN Managing Director also said that with the pace of ongoing work, the Terminal C of the Abuja airport would be ready for use by December 2024, adding that more work would be done to develop more international routes to take advantage of the International Terminal, which she described as “extremely underutilised.”
The Military Airport Commander, NAIA, Air Force, Group Captain Abbas Hashim, on behalf of the other security agencies, thanked the FAAN Boss for convening the meeting.
He called for more regular meetings and also better cooperation between the agencies and FAAN.