A GROUP, under the aegis of Aviation Round Table (ART), has expressed fear over the porous nature of the nation's airports, which it described as a serious security challenge for patrons of the facilities.Essentially, it called on the Federal Government to pay more attention to the upgrade of security personnel to ensure safety of the airports in the country, being the gateways of the nation.Speaking recently in Lagos, ART president, Captain Dele Ore recommended that an independent aviation security establishment, similar to the Transportation and Security Administration (TSA) in the United States should be established in the aviation industry.He added that perimeter fencing should be enforced and broken fences at the airports fixed.According to Ore, the nonchalant disposition of security personnel at the airports should be tackled, especially at a time when there are terrorist threats across the country.The president, who noted that, 'there is competition and rivalry among security agencies at the airports such that there is buck-passing among the agencies in event of breaches', said that, 'FAAN is the designated authority responsible for coordinating airport security but it cannot exert authority over the operations of any of the government security agencies.'ART's Secretary General, Sam Akerele, stated that the group feels strongly that the industry lags behind in manpower and employment issues.'We therefore encourage governmentto aggressively restore the healthy trend of indigenisation. Local aviation institutions should be encouraged to train more personnel.'Service providers and airlines that are interested in training pilots and engineers have challenges of obtaining visas from the embassies.Federal Ministry ofAviation should intervene to encourage training of personnel by local airlines,' he said.However, the General Manager of Public Affairs, Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), Akin Olukunle said the authority has upgraded security personnel at the various airports in the country, according to the standards of the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) requirements.
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