8th March, 2021
By Muhaimin Olowoporoku
The Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) has said that the Kaduna International Airport would not be closed after bandits attacked the facility on Saturday.
FAAN Managing Director, Captain Hamisu Yadudu, said this at the Muritala Muhammad Airport, Lagos when the Senate Committee on Aviation visited the Lagos airport and aviation agencies.
The managing director who regretted the attack promised that the management, state government, and other authorities would not relent in their effort to ensure that the safety of human lives and equipment at airports in the country.
He said: “This incident is entirely different from closing down the airport. It’s a security concern that we have at our staff quarters. A lot of our staff do not even live in these quarters. If there is a need for us to close, we will close it, but this is even far away from it.
“There is no need for that drastic action. Just a small percentage of our staff stay in the staff quarters; the rest are all living in the town. You can see that the staff quarters is fenced. We are taking appropriate measures, but as I said, we just have to improve to counter these challenges.
“The fence was broken, there are security measures. We have security personnel attending to the area, but somehow, somewhere, things happened and now it is time for us to counter as we have been doing always.
“Security is a race. Security challenges will always come and we will improve and on our own part, we keep improving to outsmart them.”
Captain Fola Akinkuotu, Managing Director, Nigerian Airspace Management Agency, NAMA, also revealed that abducted staffs of the agency, their family members, and three others were yet to make contact with the agency.
He sought the cooperation of the National Assembly in the protection of assets of NAMA at various stations and airports, stressing that some of its equipment were regularly vandalized by hoodlums.