Tragedy was averted over the weekend (Saturday, May 10, 2025) when a taxiing Air Peace flight from Lagos crushed an antelope on the tarmac of the Asaba Airport in Delta State. The incident damaged the aircraft and caused flight disruptions.

Animals endangering the lives and property of air travellers is a regular occurrence in Nigeria as a result of inadequate security arrangements around our airports. Most airports in Nigeria lack perimeter fencing. To make matters worse, Asaba Airport is reportedly under the control of the Delta State Government rather than the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria, FAAN.

Even the airports under FAAN are regularly breached due to lack of perimeter fencing. For instance, in July 2005, a French airline with 196 passengers on board flew in at 4.30am only to run into a herd of cattle at the tarmac of the Port Harcourt International Airport, killing six cows. Though no life was lost, the plane was severely damaged.

More of such incidents have been recorded in virtually every airport such as Owerri, Ondo, Lagos and Yola. Apart from frequent cattle intrusions, the Kaduna Airport was attacked by armed terrorist herdsmen who invaded the tarmac and endangered the lives of passengers of a departing airline. They claimed that security operatives “took away” their cattle which were grazing within and around the airport.

Clearly, majority of the airport breaches are caused by herdsmen and their animals. They continue to use the airports as part of their “grazing routes” even after these arenas become aviation hubs. It shows how outside the system of law and order of Nigeria these herdsmen are.

But more importantly, it also depicts the lackadaisical attitude that FAAN and other relevant agencies charged with the security of lives and property around our airports have been down the years. A properly fenced airport will ensure that no animal capable of endangering flights will be able to get in. Any unauthorised person found within the arena should immediately be brought to book if officials are up to their responsibilities.

In March 2016, the FG said it needed N25bn to fence its then 22 airports. In October 2021, DG of Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority, NCAA, Musa Nuhu, said the FG had embarked on the fencing programme. What has happened to it?

The proliferation of airports by governors has not helped matters. These facilities have been mushrooming around the country. Most of them are idle most of the time, making the provision of perimeter fences less of a priority.

Let us not wait until tragedy forces our hand. Airport security cannot be toyed with, more so as every aircraft carry passengers from all over the world. Operations should be suspended in any improperly secured airport. Adequate investments in technology should also be made to track security.