The Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) has indicated its move to curb all forms of extortion at the country’s airports and threatened to apply stiffer sanctions against violators of operational rules in the airports.
The authority’s latest measure may not be unconnected with sundry allegations of corrupt practices in the airports by stakeholders about extortion by officials of some agencies in the airports.
Apparently reacting to such complaints, the Managing Director of the regulatory agency, Capt. Rabiu Yadudu, told journalists on Monday in Abuja after the authority`s management meeting that moving against corrupt officials engaging in such unwholesome practices will improve the integrity of the nation`s airports.
He explained: “We plan to have a meeting with the airports regional managers and the Head of Departments (HODs). After the meeting with the HODs, they will meet with their stakeholders then the agencies.
“Primarily, to inform them that henceforth any violator will lose his or her ODC (on duty card) which means you lose your access card to the terminal.
“And we agreed that once you lose your ODC at the airport, you will not get it back. If it is a company, we will advise them to get a new staff. If it is an agency, we will advise them to get another personnel’’, he added
The FAAN chief warned that any official that misplaced his On Duty Card (ODC) would permanently lose his or her right and privilege to come to the airport terminal.
According to him, one of the key decisions taken by the management at the meeting was that all personnel working in the airports, either private or government, should boldly write his or her name on the chest of the uniform for ease of identification, adding that officials whose names are not boldly written henceforth would lose their jobs.
Yadudu said that the stakeholders would soon be properly informed about the latest stance of the Authority as it related to violator`s penalties and advised all airport users to send messages of any wrong action of any official to a new WhatsApp number that would be shortly made available.
He expatiated: “If you see the name of the person (violator), put his name and the act of violation. We will get back to you through your number.
“The sanction will be permanent. This is just the beginning of our strategy. If anyone loses his or her job I, think he or she will not try evil again.
“You can see we have the all relevant officers here, all the regional managers, security chiefs are here, and leaders of operation are here. So, the implementation is immediate’’, the FAAN boss added.
Yadudu promised that the Authority’s management would keep improving the rules and regulations at the airports to further assure the safety and security of the air transport system and users nationwide.
