No Porno At Lagos Airport —FAAN

Following media reports that security officers in charge of the full-body screening  machines at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, MMIA, Ikeja, Lagos, South West  Nigeria, now engage in lewd behaviours while screening passengers, airport authorities  yesterday said that the reports are untrue.

“There is no case of pornography at the Lagos airport as some people are suggesting,” the  General Manager of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), Mr. Akin Olukunle,  told P.M.NEWS during an interview yesterday.

“Some senior security officers who are university graduates were trained on how to handle  the screening machines and I don’t think they will be carried away by the naked bodies of  women,” he said.

Reports had alleged that security officers in charge of the 3-D screening machines, as  the gadgets are known, now enjoy watching naked passengers, especially female air  travellers during screening.

The reports alleged that even officers who are not on duty now spend more time at the  scanning room just to watch passengers naked.

It said that when passengers exit the scanning point, officers talk about the shape of  the travellers.

“The machine is configured in such a way that only the blurred image of the person being  scanned would show on the screen, without revealing his or her face.

“It is also designed to wipe off such image in a few seconds if nothing incriminating is  found on him. The image of the person being scanned can also not be saved on the system.

“It is also pertinent to point out that in using 3-D scanning machine, health, culture,  human rights and religion were put into consideration so that none of these factors is  violated in the process. Anyone who does not like to undergo 3-D scanning citing any of  these factors would be given the option of private physical screening by security  officers.

“At the Murtala Muhammed Airport, the configuration of the screening area and the  location of the monitor is such that the two areas are far apart and entirely secluded  from private view. The time frame involved in the scanning process does not make it  possible for the monitoring officer to scan and at the same time come out to identify the  person accessing the 3-D full body scanner,” Olukunle said in a statement.

The Director General of the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority, NCAA, Dr. Harold Olusegun  Demuren, had in a previous statement described the reports as false and  self-contradictory.

The introduction of the body scanner followed the Northwest incident of 25 December 2009  when a Nigerian allegedly attempted to blow up a plane with hundreds of passengers on  board wearing underwear devices.

Meanwhile, Olukunle disclosed that apart from Lagos international airport that boasts of  two full body scanners and the Abuja International Airport that has only one scanner,  Port Harcourt and Kano international airports have none.

A passenger who avoids Lagos and Abuja can travel safely at Port Harcourt and Kano  airports with hidden devices undetected.

—Simon Ateba