• Friday, March 29, 2024
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BusinessDay

Recent luggage poaching exposes security lapses at Nigerian airports

700,000 fewer passengers used Lagos airports in Q1 2021

Recent reports of luggage poaching at the Murtala Muhammed Airport, Lagos has exposed security lapses of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria, (FAAN) experts say.
BusinessDay checks show that two incidents of alleged poaching were recently reported, the latest being that which occurred on a chartered flight from Uyo to Lagos on 27th December 2017.
Although FAAN has dispelled the poaching allegations, experts have continued to identify loopholes in airport security. A source close to the operations of the aircraft said the incident which he said has become a regular occurrence indeed happened describing it as ‘embarrassing’.
“FAAN needs to look inward. This is an insider job. Somebody somewhere is responsible for this. They should thoroughly investigate people from General Aviation (GA). What is the mode of retrenchment of staff or those who are not well compensated,” John Ojikutu, former Commandant, Murtala Muhammed Airport, Lagos, said.

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Ojikutu also said something urgent needs to be done on the airport’s secondary fence.
“The International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) has told us since 2014. The audit report of 2014, 2015 specifically mentioned a secondary fence to cover the operational areas. We need to start looking at that,” he added.
On the 27th of December, 2017, a Bombardier Challenger 605 jet with registration number T7-A00 was said to have arrived Lagos from Uyo about 8:33 pm and was slowly taxiing to the arrival hangar when the cargo compartment was burgled.
The pilot, Captain Cloud Cote was said to have noticed the cargo door had been opened by burglars and promptly notified Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) security, but the burglars had disappeared before FAAN officials could make it to the point where the attack took place.
Upon arrival at Quits Aviation Center, a private jet hangar, the pilot discovered that two bags belonging to Tiwa Savage and Wizkid the Nigerian musicians had been stolen by the airport bandits.
Ojikutu mentioned that the latest trends and threats to aviation security have re-echoed the need to invest more in technology, enhanced training for personnel and factors that would help to mitigate threats confronting the safety of air transport industry.
Ojikutu said that FAAN Aviation Security (AVSEC) are responsible to intelligence (government security/intelligence agencies); passenger pre-screening (airlines); airport access control (airport security authority); passengers/carry-on baggage and checkpoint screening (airport security authority).
BusinessDay checks show that international and local airlines operating in Nigeria spend as much as $46million annually as compensation paid for baggage losses.
Stakeholders say airlines could otherwise have saved millions of naira being spent on compensating passengers for lost luggage with the introduction of Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) baggage tracking technology.

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RFID uses electromagnet fields to automatically identify and track tags attached to objects. This will allow customers to track their luggage throughout its travel, the tags are scanned whilst on the conveyor belt on its way into the aircraft and an alarm goes off for it to be redirected if the baggage does not belong on that flight.
Femi Longe, Director at Co-Creation Hub, told BusinessDay that most of the technology geeks and gurus that we have in Nigeria are focused on software development and not hardware and so Nigeria may have to import RFID hardware technology for its local airlines to reduce the amount of missing luggage and airline expenditure on passenger compensation for lost luggage.
“Most of the geeks and inventors in the technology hub and Nigeria at large are software experts and even the ones that do hardware are more into electrical and not electronics,” he said.
Some foreign airlines including Delta have introduced RFID tags which automatically identify and track bags, BusinessDay findings show.

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Before the introduction of this technology to Delta airline which flies from Lagos Murtala Muhammed International Airport to Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport in the United States of America, Australia’s Qantas airline has used RFID to track bags.
However, the American carrier says no other carrier has implemented an RFID tracking program with its specific kind of technology on this scale.
BusinessDay findings show that in 2016, domestic airlines operated 62,488 local flights and there were 54 cases of baggage losses of which 45 cases were resolved.
International airlines operated 15,838 International flights. There were 38,121 cases of baggage loss but only 18,672 cases were resolved.
According to the International Air Transportation Association, (IATA), passengers are entitled to an average of 60kilogram of luggage. For missing baggage, airlines are to pay a sum of 20 dollars per kilogram.
Ademola Oladele, Director of Aviation Security Unit of the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority, (NCAA), said while aviation security is everybody’s business, FAAN needs to consolidate its efforts through training its personnel regularly to prevent acts of unlawful interference at airports.
Oladela identified latent threats to airport security to include access to modern weapons and explosives by unauthorized persons; which could be smuggled through carry-on baggage, check-in luggage, and other activities using airport workers.

 

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