Is our Airport Security up to Par?

Stella Oduah(L) my friend Ebube Chukwujekwu who saw the Chinko (R)

Great News it was, to hear that the Minister of Aviation, Stella Oduah had issued a Press statement refuting the “bomb blast’’ that is said to have occurred at the E  Finger of the MMIA in Lagos. Her swift response outlining the course of the “blast sound”ahead of a more detailed Press Release she said would follow, was in my opinion an indication of the level of interference she ran in not just ensuring she achieves the primary mandate of her ministry, but also ensuring the Safety of Air Travel passengers and Security of the Airport facilities is not trifled with.

It would have been safe therefore to say that since she seems to be at the top of her game, the possibility of any terrorist attack occurring at any of our Airport facilities may be farfetched under the eagle eye of the “Aviation League”. But honestly I can’t safely say so, and my state of mind has been made even worse by what my friend Ebube sent to me last night. Like other messages of this kind that I receive, I like to cut and paste the words of the sender to retain  a sense of whatever emotions that take hold at the time of composing the message; Hear him :

“Today, I saw before my eyes the level of preparedness our security agents have to fight terror in Nigeria. It was a show of shame and incompetence at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja. We were boarding our flight and had to walk through the tarmac, and I saw this white man (oyibo) busy taking pictures of planes and the surroundings of the tarmac, I accosted him and called the attention of airport security and continued through boarding. Do you know they left the guy, did not delete the photos, nor seize the camera, and when the guy came back to the aircraft he kept taking pictures even though this time he hid the camera while doing that. What kind of country is this. If it was in China, he would be tried and jailed for spying. How do we know he is not an agent of Boko Haram casing the airport for a strike.”

Hmmmm, too many questions begging for answers as to why the Officials left the Chinko: Did money change hands on that tarmac for Oga Chinko to retain his film rights?; Is Oga Chinko perhaps doing some security stealth moves on behalf of Govt?; Is he part of the techie crew rehabilitating the Airports and was doing some prelim for project execution?, though I think a tag should have been boldly displayed on his Chest and he would have had a uniformed FAAN official as an escort; So this last question does not pass muster at all ; Or was this just a simple case of inferiority complex on the part of the officials stemming from the colour of the skin of Photographer?

Whatever the case maybe, I think Stella Oduah should seek answers to these little questions.