Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) on Wednesday said that the country’s airports would be fenced within the next three years to forestall stowaway incidences.
Mr George Oriesi, the Managing Director of FAAN, said this in Benin when some executive officials of FAAN visited Governor Adams Oshiomhole of Edo State.
He said that the agency was trying to raise funds for the airports’ fencing across the country which, he noted, was more than 500 km.
Oriesi said that the authority had deployed security patrol teams to guard its facilities temporarily, pending the time when the fencing project would be completed.
Besides, the FAAN boss said that the authority was putting some measures in place to enlighten the youth on the dangers of stowaway.
He said that it was a death sentence for anyone to attempt to stowaway, as the chances of the person’s survival were very slim.
Oriesi said that the FAAN officials were in Edo to have an on-the-ground assessment of the stowaway event, which he described as a surprise.
He said that the authority was taking measures to forestall a recurrence of the incident, while strengthening the relationship existing between the authority, the government and the people.
Responding, Oshiomhole said that the stowaway incident would enable FAAN to assess the long and short term security challenges facing airports’ management in the country.
He stressed the need for a lighting system for the Benin airport’s runway, describing the present situation as a security breach.
Oshiomhole said that the state government had decided to finance the education of the stowaway kid, Daniel Oikhena, to the university level so as to encourage him and aid him to achieve his potential.
He stressed that poverty should no longer be an excuse for parents not sending their children to school.
He said that medical and psychiatric reports on Oikhena revealed that he was medically and psychological sound and stable.
