Domestic
airlines operating flights into Kano, Maiduguri, Yola and other
volatile cities the North are currently carrying out safety and security
audits of their operations to determine whether they should continue flying to the cities or not.
The development came a few months after some of the domestic carriers
cancelled night-stops for their crew and aircraft in extremely volatile
northern cities, especially Maiduguri.
The latest security and safety audits, which started some days ago,
it was learnt, followed the bombing of a motor park in Kano on Sunday,
which left about 75 people dead as at the last count.
Currently, airlines that fly into the key northern cities are IRS, Aerocontractors, Arik, Chanchangi and Medview.
The Director of Flight Operations of one of the airlines flying into
the northern cities said the carrier had on Tuesday dispatched two
separate teams of officials from its safety and security departments to
Kano and other cities in the North to ascertain if the airline would
need to continue its flight operations into the volatile cities or not.
According to the official, domestic airlines had a year ago carried
out similar security and safety audits in the height of attacks from the
deadly Islamic sect, Boko Haram.
Sources familiar with the situation said virtually all the concerned
airlines were already re-examining their operations into the volatile
northern cities.
The sources said the airlines believed they needed to review their
operations into the cities as the suicide bomb blasts at an inter-state
commercial bus park in Sabon-Gari area of Kano showed that air transport
could also be a target of the deadly Islamic group.
The blasts, which also injured scores of passengers, drivers, hawkers and visitors, destroyed five luxury passenger buses.
A Marcopolo bus belonging to Gobison Motors had on board over 70
passengers when it was attacked by the suicide bombers just as it was
about departing the busy park for Lagos, it was learnt.
Aviation security consultant and former Military Commandant of the
Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos, Group Captain John
Ojikutu, (retd), said the domestic airlines were reacting rather late to
the potential threat posed by the activities of Boko Haram to the aviation sector.
He said airlines should have carried out such security and safety
review and audit of their operations to the North long before the latest
deadly bombing in Kano.
Ojikutu said, “The airlines are starting too late. Aviation and
airliners are targets of terrorists. I mentioned it a year ago. All the
domestic airlines need to review their security programmes to see if
they can sustain the present threat. I have seen that the security
programme they have cannot sustain the threat.
“Airlines need to establish a list of their frequently travelled
passengers so that it will make it easy for them to sort out
non-frequently travelled passengers. The airlines need to come with a
Computer Assisted Pre-Passenger Screening that will help them identify
passengers who they need to carry out enhanced screening on.
“Also, government needs to come up with a list of people that are
threats to civil aviation. Government can then circulate the list
internally through the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority to the
airlines.”
However, a top official of one of the airlines flying to the North
told our correspondent on Thursday that the carrier would continue
flying to the region as preliminary findings from the safety and
security audits of its operations in volatile northern cities,
especially Kano, revealed that certain security measures that could
prevent attacks from the Boko Haram sect and other insurgent groups were
in place.
“Along the road leading to the Kano airport, there are several
security checks at the moment. And within the Kano airport, certain
security checks have been put in place by the government,” he said.
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