KEY POINTS
- Keyamo, aviation minister says DSS should not search passengers’ bags at airports.
- Long queues result from multiple security agencies, among them customs who deal with imported goods.
- Measures are being taken by government to improve airport efficiency and coordination.
In a recent interview on Arise News, Festus Keyamo, the Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, said that the Department of State Services (DSS) should not search passengers’ bags
The DSS should not go beyond profiling an individual with a view to security scrutiny rather than physical searches of traveller’s belongings, Keyamo stated.
Keyamo explained: ‘We’ll sit down but we found this step necessary.’ “You have no business searching people’s bags, DSS,” he says. He came hard on current profiling of people of certain countries adding that the DSS should only be concerned with national security matters and not do general checkups at airports that has nothing to do with national security.
The challenges of airport security and multiple agency
He also added that Nigerian airports had become a hotspot for many complaints, including long queues caused by a series of security checks by different agencies.
The minister reckons that customs officials ought to check only for items coming into the country and not for those going out. He said that because everything involved so many agencies DSS, NDLEA, Customs, Quarantine, you have bottlenecks.
However, these agencies are not under our control; they were there before we came into power and we can’t organically remove or reorganize them out of the airport process,” Keyamo added.
New developments in government’s efforts to improve efficiency
Given these worries, the federal government has recently passed some steps meant to make airport security less tedious. Mr. Keyamo said that these changes aim to enhance efficiency, reduce delays, and improve coordination among agencies to prevent passengers from experiencing unnecessary inconveniences.
