By Omoh Gabriel

Last week, the Federal Airports Authority ordered operators of Bureaux de Change out of the premises of the nation’s international airports. The reason is that armed robbers attacked and robbed one of the money changers at the airport.

According to the report, “The Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) has ordered that all the bureaux de change operators at both the domestic and international terminals of the Murtala Muhammed Airport, Lagos and that of the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja should leave. The agency has also beefed up security at the Lagos airport with a combination of the State Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) and Aviation Security (AVSEC) to patrol the entire Lagos airport premises.”

The question is; where were these security operatives when the robbers struck? Would it not have been better if these security apparatus of government had prevented the robbery from happening through intelligence information gathering? Must those in positions of power and authority wait for something bad to  happen before acting? Why did FAAN have to wait for robbers to attack before beefing up security?

Hear their panic solution to the problem; “The General Manager, Corporate Communications of FAAN, Yakubu Dati, said; “FAAN had swung into action to prevent such incident from happening again. As a remedy, the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria has banned the activities of bureaux de change from the car park and other car parks at all the airports across the country.

“The report we are receiving is that it was the activities of bureaux de change that attracted the armed robbers into the facility and so the Managing Director of the authority, Mr. George Uriesi, has given an order to evacuate all the bureaux de change.”

Is there no difference between those changing money at the airport car parks and bureaux de change? Banning bureaux de change operators from the airport is not the solution to the security challenges facing the nation and its airports. FAAN needed to be creative and proactive in its approach to security at the airport.

Bureaux de Change are licensed by the Central Bank of Nigeria to operate as small holder dealers of foreign exchange. Small authorised “currency exchange” outfits are found in every international airport. Nigeria’s Bureaux de Change act like Thomas Cook and America Express which assist travellers and tourists to exchange foreign currencies for local ones at the point of entry.

The Managing Director of the Nigeria Airports Authority claimed he has international exposure, which he is supposed to bring to bear at the nation’s gateway, but from the decision of the authority, it is doubtful if that exposure is of any relevance to the nation’s quest for global best practice.

That there is a problem is not a reason to hurriedly jump into conclusion that the operations of bureaux de change at our airports attract criminal elements to the airports. South Africa where Mr. George Uriesi claimed to have been trained has more violent crimes within the vicinity of the airport than Nigeria. Yet, there are bureaux de change at South Africa’s international airports. It is shameful that Nigeria has descended to a point it cannot guarantee its citizenry the needed safety.

Are there no security agencies at the airports? What about the much orchestrated restriction of access to the airport area? Is FAAN saying it cannot secure its area of operation? Is FAAN not supposed to empower its internal security personnel to collaborate with the various security outfits in the country to conduct surveillance of the airport premises to rid it of undesirable elements? Where is intelligence gathering which is the hallmark of airport security globally?

Bureau de change operators are tenants of FAAN; it is the responsibility of FAAN and security agencies to protect them as well as other users of the airport. In an economy where close to 40 per cent of the population is unemployed, it is wrong to apply measures that will further send more Nigerians to the labour market.

Bureaux de change anywhere in the world offer services to foreign visitors and tourists who daily throng the nation in order to find business opportunities or visit at their leisure the beautiful places that God endowed Nigeria with. Such visitors need the services of bureaux de change because out of necessity, they need local currency to move around. It is the premises of the international airport that is secure enough for such visitors to exchange their currencies for the naira on entry into the country.

Is FAAN not working at cross purposes with the Federal Government? Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment has been shouting on top of his voice for those who care to listen that this government will go the whole hog to seek foreign investment. When such investors come, is FAAN saying because of one incidence of robbery, they should be made to wander around to look for a bank outside the airport to change their money?

FAAN could equally say that because banks and ATM dispense cash, they will attract robbers, so they should also move out of the airport. What George Uriesi and his team failed to realise is that “the price of safety is unrelenting vigilance.”