FAAN Admits Operating Faulty Scanners at Airports

The Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria (FAAN),  on Thursday  admitted before the House of Representatives Committee on Aviation that they  operate  camouflage and non-functional security scanners at some major airports in Nigeria.

FAAN management team, led by its  Acting Managing Director,Mr Salihu Domuna,  made this known during a budget defence session  before the  committee  in  Abuja.
The Committee chairperson, Hon. Nkeiruka Onyejeocha had made an  observation while going through the capital budget proposal of the agency for the 2016 fiscal year, wherein she expected to see an allocation for the repair or replacement of security scanning machines for the airports, having noticed that the one in Port Harcourt airport had not been functional.
Domuna however  explained that  they were in the process of engaging the suppliers of the scanners to effect the required  maintenance for them.
According to him, “we have asked them to tell us the parts that are needed for maintenance, because the bills they are giving us are very high and we are also looking at training some of our staff to do, the maintenance, because if you don’t have in-house technicians, you’d continue to spend more money,” he said.
The committees also queried  the agency over the construction of FAAN corporate office, wondering why the project kept reappearing in the budget every year. The FAAN MD also admitted  that the project never started, despite having budgeted monies for it over the years.
Other observations include a N7 billion increase in personnel and other related costs.
The MD said the increase was being sought to enable the agency employ more hands as they were  currently in  short of staff. He said the airport authority was also working toward expanding its vehicle holding capacity with regards to parking which had been a source  revenue generation to the agency.
He said the system in the airport now did not allow for multi-level car parks and they needed  to change that for which negotiation was on for construction.