FG okays N3bn for airport screening machines

The federal government has approved N3 billion for airport scanners.

This is in a bid to reduce multiple agencies involved in manual bag checks at the airports,

Festus Keyamo, the minister of aviation, disclosed this to State House correspondents on Monday after the federal executive council (FEC) meeting presided over by President Bola Tinubu at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

He said the proposed solution involves the supply and installation of state-of-the-art customized explosive and narcotic detection screening systems.

According to him, the approved contract will cover major international airports in Abuja, Lagos, Kano, Port Harcourt, and Enugu.

Read also: Keyamo summons heads of aviation agencies over safety concerns

The cutting-edge systems, equipped with remote and dual-view capabilities, aimed to revolutionise security procedures, he said.

He said instead of manual bag searches, the new detection machines will swiftly identify explosives or other illicit substances as bags pass through.

He said, “it’s what Nigerians will be interested in because since I came to office, we have been inundated with complaints of the harrowing experiences that passengers go through at the airports where they have to physically search their bags.

“I’m sure you all know about that, and it’s been really getting under the skin of Nigerians.

Read also: Date for Emirates flight resumption will soon be announced —Keyamo

“You’ll see various agencies lined up; NDLEA, they’ll say open your bag, Immigration, they’ll say open your bag, Customs, they’ll say open your bag, EFCC, they’ll say open your bag, and they will dip their hands in your bag.

“So we thought we should do something like you have the TSA in America, where you have detection machines. So when they pass your bags through the machines, they detect explosives or any other thing and that’s the end of the search.”