The managing director of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), Mrs Olubunmi Kuku said a yet-to-be-identified middle-aged man was electrocuted while allegedly attempting to steal electrical cables from the agency’s powerhouse
The deceased had sneaked into the power generating building and begun to disconnect some cables supplying power to the Lagos airport.
Speaking in Lagos on Monday at the commissioning of a 30-man special armed team who will man the airport, Kuku said FAAN would stop at nothing to ensure that all the loopholes that will allow unauthorised persons access into the airports are plugged.
“I would say that there are two sides to this; that our environment is quite unique in the sense that we do have some security issues nationwide.
“We have been quite lucky within the airport environments that we haven’t had any of those major incidents.
“So across the airside you’ve seen where we have people who are either crossing our fence, or of course, either trying to steal our airfield lighting equipment, or potentially even harm some of the individuals that we have on site. We had an incident, where an individual actually went into our power house and he got electrocuted,” she said.
On the security outfit, Kuku said FAAN had been looking forward to its unveiling in the last six months.
She also said there had been conversation about funding and arming the security personnel.
She added that so much had been invested in training the personnel and getting arms and ammunition for them.
She said the newly commissioned security personnel were specially selected to be part of the “special unit” of aviation security officers.
“This is a special unit. Hopefully, there won’t be any need to use your arms, but rather to leverage this as a deterrent,” she said while addressing them.
Kuku added: “But what is critical is that we want you to work very closely with the other security agencies at the airport. This is an environment that we want to keep safe and secure.
“You’ve probably seen a lot of the news around some of the illicit behaviour that are happening at the airports. There have also been all sorts of activities that we also need to put some pressure on.”
“But what I would say is, I’m happy to have you on board. I’m happy that within FAAN, we now have this select unit. And we can’t wait to see how you perform on your duties and your tasks.”
“I just want to let you know that we are fully behind you. All of the security agencies are working very closely together.
“You are also aware that we’ve launched a major war against corruption, against touting, against illicit activities at all of our terminals nationwide.
“Today, we’re collaborating with all the security agencies, especially with the Air Force as the intelligence unit of the Air Force, as well as the police and the civil defence.
“Today marks a remarkable day in our journey and we expect you to make us proud. We’re counting on you and be rest assured that you also have our support.”
