By Favour Nnabugwu
The Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria, FAAN, yesterday said the agency is set to automate the security systems at Muritala Muhammed Airport, Lagos and the Nnamidi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja.
The Managing Director of FAAN, Captain Rabiu Yadudu, stated this n Lagos when he visited Aviation and Airport Correspondents Secretariat at the Lagos airport.
According to him, “The security cameras that will give the airports 360 degree security coverage will be installed at the two airports within the next two months”
He said : ” I was a Director of Operations in FAAN when we realized there is the need for total surveillance for the whole airport. I went to Munich, Germany by the end of 2018 or so, identified the company, they came to do need assessment twice; marking and survey. They gave us the estimate for visual and thermal infrared cameras.”
” Visuals to cover the areas for a whole day – sunrise to sunset and thermal from sunset to early morning. If a rabbit is walking within 8km radius, which is 16km diameter, they will pinpoint it. We got that camera and at the whole airport, I don’t think you will get that 16 as a diameter. The runway is 3.7km or 3.8km and we are buying about four of those cameras to cover the airfield.”
“We started procurement and the minister was very supportive. As of now, the procurement has been concluded and Mr. President approved it last year, part payment has already been made to the manufacturer and the Chief of Staff and myself, we went to the factory to ensure that what we are buying is what we are getting”.
“We were there in November.
T”The delivery will happen within the next one or two months and then installation follows. This is fully automated; it will be spanning 360 degree. We already knows the solutions to all the challenges we are going through, the minister knows and even Mr. President knows too”.
The FAAN MD also said that , “In the meantime, we already set up the manual patrol; the military is going around the airport facilities for improved security.”
“This automation is not just in Lagos, but it includes Abuja airport. We also bought two motorized equipment. If you have any security challenges at any airport, we will drive it there and deploy it. Inside the vehicle, we have three screens that we can use to monitor and protect the airports,” he revealed.
On the corpse found on the runway of Lagos airport two weeks ago, Captain Yadudu said, “On that singular incident, there is still an investigation ongoing, but we can’t make any public statement until the result of the investigation is out. There are a lot of theories on it. I won’t dwell much on this until the report of the investigation is out.”
On why there has been delays in installing the security cameras, he said, “Government processes and due process, which are necessary also matters in all we do. A private airport can have a problem today and by tomorrow, it can deploy the solutions to it. We know the solutions to the problems we have, but we have to ensure that the due processes are followed for us to implement them.”
“Additional issues arise when you have to bring the equipment from abroad; there is manufacturing, shipping and others. Some things you can know , identify them and before you can ensure solution, it may take you up to a year,” he added.
