FAAN to Establish Magistrate Courts Across Airports to Prosecute Touts, Lawbreakers
The Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) has concluded plans to establish magistrate courts in airport premises across the country to prosecute violators of airport rules and anti-touting regulations.
The Managing Director/Chief Executive of FAAN, Olubunmi Kuku, made this known during the meeting held recently, between FAAN management and heads of security agencies at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport (NAIA), Abuja.
The meeting was organised by FAAN to intimate airport stakeholders on the recent happening at the airport, educate them on the strategic goals of the current management, and discuss ways of enhancing passenger experience and facilitation.
Kuku acknowledged the presence of touts and loitering by members of the public as a major challenge to making genuine airport users comfortable.
The MD/CEO FAAN said “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 taskforce, 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 also revealed that she is 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 searches at the international wing of the airport, stressing 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.
In her words: “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 declared that with the pace of ongoing work, the Terminal C of the NAIA 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 according to her is “extremely underutilised.”
Abbas Hashim, the Military Airport Commander, NAIA, Air Force Group, speaking on behalf of the other security agencies, thanked the MD/CEO FAAN for convening the meeting and called for more regular meetings as well as better cooperation between the agencies and FAAN.
