FAAN Establishes Magistrate Courts Across Airports to Combat Touting and Enhance Passenger Experience
In a move aimed at curbing the growing menace of touting and ensuring that violators of airport rules receive swift justice, the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) has announced plans to establish magistrate courts across its airports.
According to Mrs Olubunmi Kuku, Managing Director/Chief Executive of FAAN, the decision to set up the courts is part of the ongoing efforts to fight against touting in Nigerian airports. Kuku made this announcement during a meeting held in Abuja on Friday, which brought together FAAN management and heads of security agencies at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport.
The meeting, aimed at keeping airport stakeholders informed about recent developments at the airport, educating them on the current management’s strategic goals, and discussing ways to improve passenger experience and facilitation, also focused on addressing the challenges posed by the presence of touts and loitering members of the public.
“Those who have absolutely no business being at the airport continue to create issues for us,” Kuku 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.”
Kuku also highlighted the need to reduce manual baggage search at the international wing of the airport. To achieve this, the authority plans to implement a new process where baggage will pass through screening machines, allowing security officials to view 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,” Kuku emphasized.
The move is expected to improve the overall experience of passengers at Nigerian airports and demonstrate FAAN’s commitment to maintaining high standards of safety and security.
