The federal Airports Authority of Nigeria holds its safety week September 28-30 in all its airports in the country. In this interview, the agency’s general manager in charge of safety, Mr. Nat McAbraham-Inajoh says among other things that anyone who compromises safety has no guarantee that they would escape when the chips are all down.
Ime Akpan
Expectations from safety week
The new thing we’re going to be bringing in is the fact that, for the first time, safety week will hold simultaneously across the country. Before now, individual airports chose when to observe it. But on the recommendation Airports Council International (ACI), it suggested that the week should hold in September across Africa.
So FAAN has keyed to that but we’re allowed to take a week in September. So we’ve chosen the last week in September. So when you take off at any airport in the country during the week’s observance you’ll see some safety activities taking place.
I’ll like to emphasise stakeholders’ collaboration. So in all the airports, we will hold stakeholders’ meetings with our neighbours in each of the airports.
We will engage them. We will highlight issues such as airport encroachment, incursion and some environmental activities that attract wildlife. For instance, agriculture, waste disposal which could attract birds around the airport would be discussed with our neighbours.
The managing director said people jump the fence to access the airport and still have audacity to challenge FAAN security. These elements and similar others we would like to meet. We want them to understand that FAAN is their friend. We want them to know that as the airport grows, aviation grows, and we can employ their youth and some FAAN businesses could even spillover to their communities.
So stakeholders’ engagement is fundamental to us during the safety week.
Managing insider threat to aviation
We’re going to have series of engagements with our own staff to further emphasise the importance of safety. It is now widely known that safety is everybody’s business. That you’ve compromised safety doesn’t mean you’ll be safe when the chips are down. So safety actually is an ongoing engagement.
The theme for the safety week this year is, ‘Training, the key to resuming activities.’ Training is important. The World Health Organisation (WHO) mandated that all staff in the airports undergo some training programme to be familiar with safety issues. And because of the challenge the world has gone through as brought about by the global pandemic, it is important to adopt new ways of doing things.
So we’ve been doing a lot in the area of training. Part of the focus is to ensure that our staff are compliant in all safety areas.
Retired aviation staff posing threat to safety
That’s purely access control. And our security directorate is working on such issues. But you cannot say they shouldn’t come to the airport, but it must be controlled. So it’s part of issues we’re working on.
Sale of tickets and airport safety
Selling tickets by airlines at airports requires everyone within the terminal to observe COVID-19 safety protocols. Physical distancing, washing of hands with soap and water, sanitising the hands, submit for body temperature, are all factors that will make business in the airports safer.
