To curb illegal extortion and touting in Airports across Nigeria, the Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria, FAAN, has unveiled the Armed Aviation Security, AVSEC.
This was made known by the Minister of Aviation Festus Keyamo on Monday stating that the action followed many reports of illegal extortion by Airport staff on passengers and travellers.
He assured that the task force which has a unit at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos has a mandate to arrest and prosecute touts and other suspected criminals in the airport.
“As part of the steps we earlier promised Nigerians to take to curb the menace of touting and other illegal activities around our airports, earlier today the Managing Director of FAAN, on my behalf, unveiled the armed Aviation Security (AVSEC) unit at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Lagos.”
Mr Keyamo further pointed out that the task force will be replicated in other international airports in the country to bring order and security to travellers.
“We will replicate it at other international airports. They have the mandate to arrest and prosecute touts and other suspected criminals around our airports. This is apart from the other inter-ministerial effort that is still ongoing to deal specifically with the issue of agencies of government within the airports that are involved in extortion, bribery and begging.”
In her speech, the Managing Director of FAAN Mrs Olubunmi Kuku stated that the initiative aims to secure the environment of the airport while hoping that there won’t be any reason for using arms.
