FAAN to carry out background checks on all airport staff

The Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) says it is collaborating with security agencies to undertake background checks of all personnel working in the nation’s airports.

Saleh Dunoma, FAAN managing director, told NAN that the check is part of the new security measures to bring sanity to airports.

According to him, the recent incident at Aminu Kano International Airport that led to the wrongful arrest of an innocent Nigerian in Saudi Arabia was unfortunate.

“It is very unfortunate that the incident happened and we found ourselves in this but we have gotten to the root of that.

“I attended meetings personally in Kano on three occasions when this saga is going on and we have reviewed the total security architecture in Kano and from that review, we have implemented over 80 per cent.

“Everybody that is working at the airport, whether you are FAAN staff, NAHCON staff, SAHCOL staff, airline staff because these are people that interact with passengers and we have agreed that everybody must go through a background check.

“This background check would be carried out by the appropriate security agencies in this country and then if they find anything doubtful about your character or anything about you we do away with you.”

Dunoma assured that the authority had also introduced new measures to airport security, adding that new equipment had been provided to assist in curbing the human issues within airports.

He said that the effort led to the arrest of the culprits in the Kano saga, saying that no effort would be spared to rid the airports of bad eggs.

“It is very unfortunate but we are up to the task, we are on top of the game as you could recall that those people were apprehended and they are facing justice.

“We cannot say close the airport and sack everybody but every agency is doing something drastic about their staff.

“We are looking at even the innocent ones because we know that majority of them there are innocent, they are just doing their work but we are checking everybody and making sure that you have the right character and that we can trust you.”