By Chinedu Eze
In march 2021 suspected bandits stormed the
staff quarters of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) at the
Kaduna International Airport and abducted some families and one year later,
gunmen attacked an area very close to the airport runway and a security
operative with the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA) was shot dead.
Inside source informed THISDAY that NAMA
engineers were working on the Ominidirectional Radio Range (VOR) equipment,
surrounded by security operatives when gunshots tore the air and forced
everybody to scamper for safety. Unfortunately, bullet hit the ill-fated
security official of the agency and he died. The control tower directed Azman
Air flight that was about to take off to Lagos to abort it to ensure that the
aircraft was not attacked on takeoff.
Azman Air later explained in a statement
that the Lagos-bound flight, Azman Air aircraft, "5N-HAI touched down at
the Kaduna airport around 12:36 pm and the boarding of Lagos bound passengers
was completed around 1:04 pm during which the cockpit crew requested for
permission to depart."
"The Control Tower offered a safety
advice to hold on departure due to security threats in a village close to the
airport. This delayed our departure by 44 minutes after which the control tower
cleared the crew to proceed accordingly. The aircraft was stamped airborne at
exactly 1:48 pm."
Two days after the incident, Azman Air
issued another statement saying that it would stop operations to Kaduna.
According to the statement, "The management
of Azman Air will like to inform the general public that we will be halting our
operations into Kaduna airport for few days. We understand the security
situation around the airport has ben handled and normalcy has been restored
accordingly, but it is imperative for the management to re-evaluate its
operational procedures into the airport to ensure maximum safety of equipment,
staff and passengers are fully guaranteed."
Safety Rating
Industry stakeholders said the security
breach incident in Kaduna and other related incidents might draw the attention
of the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO), the International Air
Transport Association Operational Security Audit (IOSA), which audits Nigerian
carriers' safety status, insurance companies, Transport Security Administration
of the United States (TSA) and the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), to
review the security situation in Nigeria in their dealings with the country.
Insurance premium might rise due to high country risk.
The CEO of Centurion Aviation Security and
Safety Consult, Nigeria and former Commandant of the Murtala Muhammed
International Airport, Lagos, Group Captain John Ojikutu (rtd) expressed the
worry that these international aviation agencies would be monitoring what is
happening in Nigeria and urged that the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority
(NCAA) should call for review of the National Civil Aviation Security Programme
(NCASP).
"I am certain that ICAO and the TSA
are watching the trend in the country but I expect the NCAA to either call for
the review of the National Civil Aviation Security Programme or send out
Advisory Letters to the various operators, airlines, airports and the allied
services to enhance their various services," Ojikutu said.
He advocated for a type of security
programme that would be able to meet the security challenges of the time,
noting that NCAA would rely on the national intelligence estimates to be able
to give such directives.
"The question that will be going
through any discerning minds now is: do we really have a national intelligence
estimates or who is expected or responsible for providing the national
intelligence? Who will coordinate the airport security among the multiple
government security agencies working in the airports? The NCASP said it is the
Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN). Can FAAN designate security
responsibility to any of the government security agencies in the
airports," Ojikutu said.
Ojikutu insisted that aviation security
remained a function of national security and attacks on any target in aviation
is an attack on the state.
"My knowledge in aviation security
tells me that aviation security is a function of national security and attacks
on any target in aviation is an attack on the state. What am saying is that the
frequencies on the attacks are getting on roads and railway could be a
rehearsal for major attacks on aviation, especially within the Kaduna state
axis.
Have you taken a second thought on the man
that was killed at Kaduna airport; at the site of the VOR? Could the VOR be the
target or why would the bandits face that direction and not the terminal
building or the tower? What do the bandits know about the VOR or could there be
an insider from the aviation community? Many questions needed to be asked for
an intelligent answer to determine a preemptive action or solution for a repeat
in any of the airports," he said.
Ojikutu stated that Nigeria has failed to
do what it used to do before it obtained the Category One Safety Status
certification from the FAA.
"It is not that scary; we have failed
to regularly do what we were doing before we got the FAA certification in
Aviation Security (AVSEC) in 2009. Can we talk about this? This is one of the
areas my proposal on aviation security for networking the government security
agencies working at our airports are expected to address. The last time we did
it, like I said, was 2010 following the (Umar Farouk) Abdumutallab failed
attempt (to bomb US airliner on December 25, 2009)," Ojikutu added.
Reviewing Security Apparatus
The General Manager, Public Affairs, NCAA,
Sam Adurogboye, told THISDAY that the security committee in the aviation
industry would review the incident and decide on the next line of action,
noting that insecurity is a global phenomenon and therefore a global challenge.
On whether the international aviation agencies like ICAO, FAA and others would
review their rating of Nigeria, he explained that Aviation Security (AVSEC)
comes under different assessment, adding that security issues are national
issues and all ought to get involved, from the aviation industry to the
federal, the state, local government and the communities.
"Airport security committee meet
regularly and it is presided over by the Director General of NCAA. They will
review the system. Fighting insecurity requires collective effort. Depending on
their decision, the airport can be isolated pending when security is
restored," he said.
Adurogboye also assured that what happened
would not affect Nigeria's rating in international aviation because the incident
did not happen at any of the major airports where international carriers
operate.
"What happened will not affect our
rating. TSA is interested in major gateways. ICAO certification covers major
gateways and everything is being done to ensure that security is restored at
the place," he said.
Task Force
The House of Representatives on Tuesday,
summoned the heads of Security Agencies, Aviation Minister, Captain Hadi Sirika
and the heads of aviation agencies to a meeting on Wednesday with the House leadership
and the Chairmen of relevant committees of the House of Representatives on the
recent security breach at the Kaduna International Airport.
The House also urged the Federal Government
to through the office of the National Security Adviser, (NSA), the Chief of
Defence Staff, the Inspector-General of Police and heads of other security
agencies to holistically intervene by setting up special security task force
(SSTF) on airports across the country.
The House said it took the decisions after
adopting the motion of Urgent National Importance, titled, "Urgent Need
for The Federal Government Investigate The Recent Banditry Attack at Kaduna
International Airport And Reinforce Security Surveillance and Personnel in All
The Nigerian Airports sponsored by the Chairman of House of Representatives
Committee on Aviation, Hon. Nnolim Nnaji.
The House further directed Federal Ministry
of aviation, Federal Airports of Nigeria, (FAAN) security and other security
agencies to come up with a more proactive measure in securing the airports,
including providing modern security surveillance equipment on the perimeter
fences in all airports.
Presenting the motion earlier, Nnaji told
the colleagues that about a year ago, armed bandits attacked the staff quarters
of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria at the same Kaduna airport and
abducted about twelve persons.
He noted that on March 25, 2022 another
horrific armed banditry attack was unleashed at the airport resulting in the
death of a security guard of the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA).
Nnaji acknowledged the swift intervention
of the military and other security agencies who confronted the heavily armed
bandits numbering over a hundred, adding that their gallantry saved the
situation.
The Aviation Committee Chairman said he was
concerned that the attack on Kaduna airport might escalate to other airports if
urgent measures were not taken to safeguard the nation's aerodromes.
Intelligence Gathering
The two incidents at Kaduna airport last
year and this year were surprise attacks, which means that the security
operatives at the airports did not envisage them. There are suggestions that
security operatives at the airports must have to collaborate with the host
community to gather intelligence and possible pre-empt a possible attack and
nip it before execution.
Group Captain Ojikutu noted that the first
line of any defence layers against insecurity including those considered as
aviation insecurity is intelligence.
"Secondly, at MMA in particular with
over 23km perimeter fences and where these fences are used as part of public
and private buildings or fences, there is need to build a secondary fences as
security fences to meet the basic requirements of Document 8973 (from ICAO
Security annex) that demands six meter distances from the perimeter fences to
any public and private buildings, infrastructure and roads outside the
airport," he said.
THISDAY investigation revealed that in most
airports in the country, including the Lagos airport, the access is porous. At
the Port Harcourt International Airport, Omagwa, the host community accesses
the airport environment where sometimes they spread their farm produce like
rice to dry. At the Kaduna airport, there are tracks the residents of the host
community pass through the airport. It has been there for several years and
until the recent insecurity, there had not been security breaches for decades.
But now that there is apparent threat, it is expected that the airport security
system must have to review its operations.
THISDAY also learnt that FAAN AVSEC had
initiated collaboration between airport security and community vigilante. The
experiment carried out at the Port Harcourt airport seemed to have worked so
FAAN is expected to carry out the experiment at other airports, especially at
those airports located at less busy environments like Kaduna airport, which is
situated far away from the city.
Ojikutu recommended that Nigeria should
fully abide by the ICAO Annex 17 to establish a national aviation security
committee and also establish an Autonomous security agency for the airports
that would have all the multiple government security agencies under its
control.
"How would the NCASP give security
coordination of all government security agencies to FAAN that was established
primarily for airports development and management not for security. During my
time, I brought all the agencies together and drew roaster that put the head of
each agencies including FAAN airport manager in control of the rest for one
week.
We started this before the US found out
they had similar problems and the Al Gore commission recommended the
establishment of the TSA that put all the government security agencies in the
US airports under the TSA. That is what for many years I have been asking every
minister of aviation to do; I have also advised against the arming of the FAAN
security until a unified airport security agency is established," he said.
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