Aviation security experts have called for collaboration of security agencies at the airport in order to create synergy and effective coverage of airport facilities in Nigeria.
In a paper presented at the on-going National Aviation Conference (FNAC) of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) in Abuja, the General Manager, Aviation Security Operations at FAAN, Dr. Anne Otibor Egbadon, said: “Aviation security is the combination of measures and the marshaling of various human and material resources at the international, national and airport levels for the protection civil aviation against acts of unlawful interference. There is an urgent need to ensure good working relationships among all the agencies that are involved in aviation and national security.”
She said that no single government entity could unilaterally fulfill national safety and security, noting that national sovereignty is a function of interagency unity, remarking that every threat against aviation is a threat against national security service and vice versa.
“Aviation security is the combination of measures and the marshaling of various human and material resources at the international, national and airport levels for the protection of civil aviation against acts of unlawful interference,” she said.
According to Egbadon, threat to aviation remained the probability or likelihood of an attack on a target and these include sabotage to aircraft, sabotage of airports, hijacking of an aircraft on the ground or in flight and armed attack on/off airport facilities.
She explained that terrorists and others target aviation and its facilities because the industry is a high profile sector, which attracts global attention when there is serious security breach like the hijack of aircraft, attack at the airports or related insecurity.
“An attack will force governments to react. An attack is likely to cause many deaths and injuries and an attack on aviation can have a huge impact with limited risk to the attacker,” she said.
To fortify the security apparatus at airports, Egbadon said there should be synergy among security operatives who come from the Nigerian Air Force, Aviation Security from FAAN, the Nigerian police, the Nigerian Immigration Service, the Nigerian Customs, the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency and others.
