LAGOS – Players in the Nigerian avia­tion industry have disagreed over the recent approval for Aviation Security (AVSEC) personnel, a department in the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), to bear arms within the industry.

This is as FAAN has said that allowing AVSEC to bear firearms was in line with its Act 2022, the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) standards and recom­mended practices and received the approval of the presidency.

Some of the experts said the approval for arms bearing by the personnel would further militarise the civil aviation industry and therefore called for its reversal.

Others said the approval was in tandem with ICAO an­nex 17 on security.

However, the approval by the Federal Government for the department to bear arms, has further swelled the num­ber of military and paramili­tary personnel bearing arms within the airport to eight.

Already, officers of the Ni­geria Air Force (NAF), Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS), National Drug Law En­forcement Agency (NDLEA), the Nigeria Police, Department of State Services (DSS), Nige­ria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSDC) all bear fire­arms at nation’s airports.

Mrs. Olubunmi Kuku, the Managing Director, FAAN, had commissioned 120 officers of AVSEC Special Force that have been trained to bear arms in an effort to beef up security across airports in the country.

Kuku, who spoke at the commissioning of 30 of the personnel at the international wing of the Murtala Moham­med Airport, Lagos, described the occasion as remarkable for the agency as it takes steps to get Nigeria’s aviation security team kitted in line with the global standards.

Speaking on the issue, Grp. Capt. John Ojikutu (retd), the Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Centurion Aviation Security Ltd, said that the avi­ation industry was not about application of force or its mul­tiplication.

Rather, Ojikutu explained that aviation was more of pro­filing behavioural patterns of all those connected to civil avi­ation activities like passengers, crew, airports staff, visitors and others.

Ojikutu explained that the bearing of arms by AVSEC signified a loss of confidence in the existing security agen­cies in the sector, maintaining that rather than multiplicity of arms, the government should find a solution to the existing problem.

He also enjoined Nigeria to emulate the United States of America (USA), which creat­ed the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) that uni­fied all the security agencies.

He maintained that he was against “multiple liberalisa­tion and decentralised control of arms by multilateral secu­rity agencies at the nation’s airports.”

He said that the inclusion of AVSEC on agencies bearing arms at the airports without administrative authority or control would lead to a chaotic situation.

He said: “The carrying of arms is in the contingency plan meant for intervention in the event of breaches on the protocols for securing any disruption of the AVSEC layers at the access control points, checkpoint or screen­ing points, or even onboard.

“If all the security agencies are in the airports carrying guns, what is the necessity or the sense in establishing an­other armed carrying agency for FAAN?

“We need a unified, but autonomous aviation securi­ty agency like the TSA of the U.S. Anything different from that is to continue living with multiple problems in airport security.”

Another aviation security expert who didn’t want his name in print, queried the cost of acquiring the firearms by the government, quality of training, mode of release, types of firearms, its inclusion in the 2024 budget and the integrity of the contractor who supplied the arms to the government.

The source further stated that there was no necessity for AVSEC to bear firearms in the sector as numerous se­curity agencies were already doing so.

Rather, he opined that with collaboration and cooperation by the various security agen­cies, security in the industry would be better enhanced, maintaining that the present arrangement amounted to multiplicity of firearms in the industry.

The source added said: “Are the AVSEC with the firearms expected to carry out a form of defence or attack? What level of AVSEC personnel would bear the arms? What is the character of the person?

“Are we militarising civil aviation? Where else do we have such militarisation of airports when we already had seven different agencies carry­ing firearms in our airports? Is Nigeria at war?”

But, Mr. Ayo Obilana, CEO, Selective Security Internation­al Ltd, said it was necessary for AVSEC personnel to bear arms within the airport.

According to him, this would enable them to fulfill their statutory functions in accordance with ICAO’s annex 17 on security.

He declared that only two groups of people are against the bearing of arms by AVSEC – the ignorant who are unaware of the work­ings of aviation security and those who wanted to monop­olise arms bearing within the country.

Obilana emphasised that the latter believed AVSEC should rely on them for arms support, maintaining that AVSEC are able bodied Nigeri­ans who were willing and capa­ble of discharging their duties like other security agencies.

He added: “Needless to point out that the job was at the instance of Nigeria govern­ment – the tasking authority, which has legitimised AVSEC bearing arms through the Act of Parliament or legislation and the Act has been appro­priately gazette.

“I am a living witness to lackadaisical attitudes of armed personnel in the past, when armed support was need­ed to counter or foil threats viz attacks on taxiing aircraft at the airport. Whenever FAAN AVSEC called on them for expeditious tactical support to foil attacks or threats, they would ask for rations, money and give flimsy excuses before reluctantly stepping out to sup­port.”

He insisted that the bear­ing of arms by AVSEC would reduce their reliance on support from other security agencies.

The security expert main­tained that many of the ex­isting security agencies had no statutory responsibility at the airports, alleging that they imposed themselves on the airport for touting and other nefarious purposes.

“They should be compelled to leave the airports. They feel that they should be at the air­port once they carry or bear weapons. It’s not right. The presence of armed AVSEC personnel will undoubtedly enhance aviation security in its entirety,” he opined.

Also, Dr. Alex Nwuba, the President of the Aircraft Own­ers and Pilots Association of Nigeria (AOPAN), backed the bearing of firearms by AVSEC personnel, describing it as a ne­cessity.

Nwuba declared that car­rying of firearms by AVSEC was not new to the system, but hoped that the officers had been given all the necessary and required training by the government.

The AOPAN president emphasised that the firearms were part of the progression that came about as the airport environment changes, but can­vassed for the removal of some of the security agencies at the airport to reduce its militari­sation.

He added: “The key chal­lenge would be you now have AVSEC, police, Army, DSS, Customs and others with fire­arms. Did we not have enough in that process? But it is what it is, you can’t change the gov­ernment mindset on what it is about to do in some things.

“If we can remove some of these other agencies and improve the airport environ­ment, then, it is a step in the right direction, but if we are going to have all these various five or six agencies carrying weapons around the airport, it is not a good direction. I think within the civil airport space, we need to remove all of these interferences.”

Comrade Abdulrazaq Saidu, General Secretary, As­sociation of Nigerian Aviation Professionals (ANAP), said that the function was part of the Act setting up FAAN.

Saidu, however, alleged that some security agencies had al­ways kicked against the imple­mentation of that aspect of the Act for selfish reasons.

He explained that the unions had always been in the forefront of the implemen­tation of that aspect of the FAAN’s Act.

“Most of the things that go on at the airports, especially the restricted areas, AVSEC cannot challenge the other security agencies on them be­cause they are not armed.

“Look at our airports, a lot of atrocities, including illicit drug businesses are going on there, yet no FAAN staff can challenge them unless they want to die,” he said.

Mr. Igbafe Afegbai, Director of Aviation Security Services, FAAN, in his response to the enquiry by our correspondent, explained that the approval was in sync with Section 10 of FAAN Act 2022.

Afegbai also maintained that the officers were trained by the DSS at the National Institute for Security Studies (NISS), Bwari, Abuja.

He added that the training was held in three batches of 40 participants each, totaling 120, but one of the trainees was dropped due to health grounds.

According to him, the for­tification of aviation security personnel was the only posi­tive way of guarding the na­tion’s new status in the world’s aviation industry.

He said this would repre­sent a practical demonstration of Nigeria’s commitment to the open sky agreement with the United States of America and the issue of the liberalisa­tion of air transportation with­in the African region.

He informed that AVSEC personnel South Africa, Mali, Singapore and Spain, among others, also bear light arms, insisting that Nigeria was not the first country to arm its avi­ation security.

He added that FAAN’s dependence on other agencies for the provision of armed support had not equally been largely satisfactory, but assured that this would further improve security of airports.

He added: “The approval will not further militarise the sector as AVSEC are not militarised in the first instance. Also, all agencies of government have clear and distinct functions in the airport, gearing towards national security.”

In her comment, Mrs. Obiageli Orah, the Director, Public Affairs and Consumer Protection of FAAN, pointed out that the government’s decision to arm aviation security personnel was a strategic and proactive step to enhance airport security.

Orah explained that this would empower the department to respond decisively to emerging threats and improve overall security within the sector.

She added that FAAN was statutorily saddled with the responsibility of providing security at all airports in Nigeria, maintaining that to deliver the function, it was necessary for aviation security operatives to have the requisite dexterity in weapon handling.

“With present day sophistication and escalation in aviation related crimes, the use of firearms by aviation security personnel while on duty becomes more compelling and expedient,” she added.