By CHARLES KUMOLU

THE recent conquest of the air by 13-year-old Daniel Ohikhena, has once again brought to the fore the issue of  security across Nigerian airports.

Though Ohikhena was not the first stowaway case recorded in the country, the fact that this happened at a time when the Federal Government is remodeling most airports in the country, apparently led to    concern it raised among stakeholders and air travellers.

Ohikhena, it will be recalled had on August 24, 2013, hidden in the tyre hole of a Nigerian airline, Arik Air, which flew from Benin to Lagos. He was discovered when the plane touched down in Lagos.

Barely two  weeks after that incident, a  combined team of aviation security and men of the Department of State Security, DSS, at the Benin Airport apprehended a 27-year-old man   who allegedly stowed into the airport runway with an intent to illegally board an Abuja-bound Arik flight.

*Daniel Oikhena

The 27-year-old suspect whose identity could not be ascertained at press time, was said to have been arrested lying with his belly close to the runway while waiting for an Arik aircraft to land. Confirming the incident, the Chief Security Officer of the Airport, Mr Adeboye Festus said the suspect had confessed to the crime.

But the suspect told journalists that he was a psychiatric patient and was tired of life, hence he wanted to travel to Abuja. It would be recalled that sometime in March 2010, a taxi cab ran into a parked Arik Airline flight at the Margaret Ekpo International Airport, Calabar.   The  driver found his way into the airport through the Nigerian Air Force gate before ramming the vehicle into the underbelly of the airplane which was preparing to head to Abuja.

Although there were no casualties, the aircraft marked 5N-MJJ, suffered some damages which  necessitated the deployment of another flight to take the passengers to their destination.

Litany of lapses: In July  2005, a commercial flight ran into stray cows on landing at the Port Harcourt International Airport, Omagwa in Rivers State. Although no life was lost,  the new Air France jet was lightly damaged.

Similarly, in 2008, a  passenger was reportedly driven through a bush path and dropped directly on the tarmac of the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport to board a flight. Another incident also occurred  in March 2011in Bauchi State, when the aircraft conveying the vice presidential candidate of the then Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN, Mr. Fola Adeola and other party chieftains to Bauchi for a campaign rally, crash landed at the city’s air strip. Another lapse occurred when a Kings Air- operated HS-125 chartered aircraft with registration number 5BN-BNR, crash-landed due to non-clearance of the airport runway by airport authorities.

It was gathered that despite receiving an approval for  landing, the pilot discovered on descent, that the runway of the airport had been taken over by a herd of sheep and goats.  The pilot was left with the option of  force-landing, but the aircraft was damaged in that process, although the passengers escaped unhurt.

Against the backdrop of these increasing security lapses,  the question on the lips of many is: How safe or secure are Nigerian airports?

From Sokoto to Calabar, Lagos to Maidugri, Vanguard Features,VF, checks reveal that the current efforts at remodeling the airports across the country, have not translated into secured airports. VF found out that most airports in the country, do not have perimeter fencing to ward off intruders into the airports.

Aviation security consultant,  Capt Danlami Gadjoh told VF that the porous security situation at the  airports is not unconnected with the failure of past administrators of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria ,FAAN,  to build perimeter fencing around the airports.

He was pissed that none of the 22 airports operated by the Federal and state governments has been certified by the International Civil Aviation Organisation, ICAO. “It is unfortunate that the government has not been able to meet the requirements for certification. Airport security is not supposed to be treated with laxity or lip service.

The stowaway kid helped in telling the world that our airports are not secured.Relevant aviation agencies should  put in place the necessary requirement by ICAO. That would ensure certification. You have to understand that getting the requirements in place involves proper funding; so we expect government to see the matter as an urgent task that must be accomplished, else Daniel’s incident would look like child’s-play when another breach happens.’’

Gadjoh’s argument, was also in line with the position of Arik Managing Director, Mr. Chris Ndulue. The Arik boss who expressed shock at the incident declared: “We are worried by the incessant security lapses at our airports. We are appealing to FAAN to immediately address the problem.”

Airports do not meet ICAO standards

Further checks revealed that perimeter fencing is a prominent condition for certification.

A report titled: Nigerian airports do not meet ICAO standard, stated that as part of requirement for ICAO certification, an airport must have operational and perimeter fencing, certified aviation security personnel and state-of-the-art navigational equipment while the personnel must be regularly trained and retrained.

Another security expert, Dr. Akolade Temitope was saddened by what he described as the failure of past governments to make the airports secure.

He wondered why it took Daniel’s suicide mission to awaken the government to take proactive measure to make our airports safe. ‘’Nigeria is a country where we don’t take precautionary measures. We are only reactionary. Why would it take a Daniel to embark on his suicidal flight before ensuring that our airports are well secured. The truth is that the nation’s airports are not effectively manned,’’ he said.

Continuing, he said: “The buck stops on the table of  FAAN to provide security to protect the airports. The first step is the perimeter fencing which should be  patrolled at all times. FAAN should step in immediately because the incident speak volume about ineptitude on the part of concerned authorities”.

But the General Manager, Corporate Communications, Mr. Yakubu Dati assures that security measures have been put in place to prevent a repeat of a stowaway incident. He noted  that additional security measures would put in place in airports that have no perimeter fencing.

New security measures: ”First, at every airport without a fully functional perimeter fence, a FAAN security vehicle will be deployed to a point within full view of the aircraft as it taxies out to take off. And the FAAN security will maintain visual scrutiny and, if necessary, respond to any situation, until every departing aircraft is safely airborne.

”Secondly, bushes at all airports are to be cleared to ensure full view of the perimeter, the control tower, FAAN Fire and Rescue observation posts. And also to allow aviation security patrol teams have a sweeping view of the entire perimeter of an airport from their duty posts,“ he said.

Datti further said that static observation posts would be erected at strategic locations within the perimeter fence of all airports to forestall premeditated and inadvertent unauthorised access to the air side.

He said that the measure would be complemented by motorised and foot patrols.

Dati noted that the absence of perimeter fences at most of the airports had always posed a challenge to FAAN because of the huge capital outlay required to construct the fences.

He said that some of the fences were as long as 40 kilometres, across the 22 network of airports in the country.