Why FAAN declared war on touting at airports, states what court ‘ll do to defaulters

By Ezurike Ugochukwu

Poised to fight the despicable menace of touting at Nigerian airports, the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria(FAAN) said it has concluded plans to establish magistrate courts across the country’s airports.

FAAN said the development is informed by the activities of marauding persons who have continued to constitute nuisance at the airports and are bringing bad name to the country.

The agency maintained that the step was in continuation of the fight against touting at Nigerian airports as well as to ensure that violators of airport rules get an instant judgment.

Managing Director/Chief Executive of FAAN, Mrs Olubunmi Kuku, disclosed this at a meeting in Abuja.

The meeting was between the management of FAAN and heads of security agencies at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja organised to intimate airport stakeholders on recent happenings at the airport.

To further educate them on the strategic goals of the current management, and discuss ways of enhancing passenger experience and facilitation.

The FAAN boss identified touting and loitering by members of the public as a major challenge to making genuine airport users comfortable especially foreigners.

Kuku said, “There are people who have absolutely no business being at the airports, and they continue to create issues for us,” she said. “We have an anti-touting taskforce, and as it is, we are going to start the prosecution onsite of those engaging in these illicit activities or loitering around the airport environment and harassing passengers. This doesn’t happen elsewhere around the world, and the airport should be a safe space.”

She further said that she is aware of car hire operators violating processes and protocol and warned that such behaviour would no longer be tolerated.

The FAAN boss however reiterated the need to reduce manual baggage search at the international wing of the airport. Said a process would be put in place where baggage would go through screening machines and security officials would view the contents in real-time and only pull aside luggage that requires secondary screening.

“We have to streamline our efforts. We need to improve processes at the airport. This is the 21st century, and we must keep up with the times,” she said