FORGET THE GOATS......THE TERRORISTS ARE COMING!!!

Does the title create fear? Let's savor it again for a moment ….I don’t intend to create unnecessary fear but are we really ready for the unimaginable?

I remember in 2005 when an Air France plane ran into a herd of goats in Port Harcourt. With much embarrassment and apologies from the government of how the necessary rectifications were to be made. We then had a similar incident again, in Bauchi airport this time, with an aircraft carrying Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) members (including the then vice presidential candidate Mr. Fola Abiola)which ran into goats on the runway, causing considerable damage to the aircraft and almost claiming the lives of all onboard.

Today we don’t just have goats to worry about….We have real live terrorists to confront.

Lets face it, terrorists in Nigeria have done a good job at destabilizing the country, killing innocent people, instilling fear, and making the leaders look ….in adequate. So it’s safe to say, that anything could happen at anytime. The Nigerian government needs to up their intelligence and/or improve on predictive countermeasures of attacks, right???

With the increased use of air transport within the last two decades, Planes have now become the safest and fastest way to travel in Nigeria especially as the roads have become death traps due to substandard materials, poor maintenance and criminal gangs but when it comes to airport security. Is enough being done to ensure terrorists won’t compromise this method of transport?

Airport Security should attempt to prevent any threat or potentially dangerous situation from arising. It must stay at a high level for the millions of passengers because of the ‘real and ongoing threat’ of terrorism. I think we have been very lucky this far.

What I don’t understand is the total lack of security in certain areas on the grounds of airports and also the less than impressive security within the airports.

Do we need to be reminded that terrorists have been known to use the most simplest and innocent of objects and turn it around as weapons of mass destruction, e.g. PLANES!!!!

This is not limited to Nigeria, but lets face it, terrorists are ahead of governments in coming up with ingenious ways to get their targets, but all over the world governments have taken effective measures to protect their airports. We have heard of committees and policies put into place regarding airport security but in spite of that…there are still serious lapses with potentially disastrous consequences.

Whilst on my trip to Nigeria I was speaking to a friend, who works at one of our domestic airports she told me that ``security is just not a priority, it should be taken more seriously but its not. People walk in and out of offices and sometimes laymen walk into restricted areas especially if going to collect a so called big man’’

I also noticed the poor monitoring of the perimeter fencing surrounding a certain airport and in reading an article by THISDAYs Chinedu Eze he mentions communities that once owned the land used by the airports but who still have access to making use of the seemingly large empty spaces around the runway without any opposition he sited the Abuja, Port Harcourt, Lagos, Owerri airports.

Apart from the obvious outside threat there is also growing apprehension that with security as it stands, Nigeria's airports may be attacked by perfidious fundamentalists who may work at airports and be part of the security apparatus of the system.

The insider threat, as it is known in the aviation industry, is real, because of the fear that certain individuals who work within the industry may be sympathetic to the cause of a terror group and may serve as a facilitator for its objectives.

Former Managing Director of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), Richard Aisuebeogun, said that while the number of terrorist related incidents involving insiders is somewhat limited, he observed that there are high numbers of incidents where insiders used their special airport access to conduct criminal activities.

Its apparent that a new approach to airport security is far over due and really needs to be implemented or else we may end up regretting it. The current situation epitomizes just how reluctant the industry is when it comes to acknowledging the risks, even in the face of irrefutable evidence.