TheNewsGuru

Tag: Airports

  • Airports perimeter fencing to be captured in 2019 budget – FAAN

    The Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) says it is making plans to erect perimeter fencing at airports across the country to improve safety and security of aircraft and passengers.

    The general manager, Corporate Affairs, FAAN, Henrietta Yakubu, disclosed this to journalists in Lagos on Tuesday.

    Yakubu said the managing director of FAAN, Saleh Dunoma, had assured that funds to embark on the construction of the perimeter fences would be captured in the 2019 budget.

    She said:”The incidence of runway incursion is a threat to safety, which remains a great concern to FAAN.

    “The incident at Akure airport where cows entered the runway is being addressed. The animals gained access to the restricted area through a gap on the perimeter fence.’’

    According to her, engineers from FAAN are already at the Akure airport to fix the collapsed section of the fence.

    She also disclosed that as part of measures to further strengthen the security of the airports across the country, FAAN had stopped the renewal of On Duty Cards (ODCs) for former workers of airlines and FAAN.

    According to her, this is to ensure strict personnel monitoring and make sure that only people designated to be in restricted areas are able to gain access to such areas.

    Yakubu explained that all security measures had been reviewed, while 10 vehicles were recently added to the ones on the ground to enhance runway patrol.

  • Executive Orders: NCAA to ensure full compliance at airports

    Executive Orders: NCAA to ensure full compliance at airports

    The Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) said on Tuesday that it had put in place measures to ensure full and sustained compliance with the Federal Government’s Executive Order at airports in the country.

    The General Manager, Public Relations, NCAA, Mr Sam Adurogboye, said the agency’s Director General, Capt. Muhtar Usman, had directed all Aviation Safety Inspectors (ASI) to monitor the level of compliance with the order.

    Adurogboye said this was alongside their statutory oversight responsibilities at the airports, as enshrined in the Nigerian Civil Aviation Regulations 2015 (Nig.CARs 2015).

    “All aviation parastatals under the Federal Ministry of Aviation, Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA), Nigeria Meteorological Agency (Nimet) and Accident Investigation Bureau (AIB) have since commenced compliance to the order.

    “On its part, NCAA has prepared a standard document outlining its core functions and services, appropriate charges, fees, licences, waivers and other tax-related processes, in adherence to the order.

    “The schedule contains mode of communication of official decisions to the various applicants for our sundry services,’’ Adurogboye said in the statement issued in Lagos.

    According to him, this information, together with other vital information, for ease of doing business in the Nigerian aviation sector are contained in the official website of the NCAA.

    He said the federal government had handed down the order with the view to eliminate the unnecessary bureaucracy that impedes business activities at Nigeria’s airports.

    Adurogboye added that it would improve safety, security and facilitation of passengers within and around the airports.

    He said the NCAA director general was in constant discussions with the heads of aviation agencies to ensure sustained adherence to the order by the agencies and continuous surveillance by the regulatory authority.

    TheNewsGuru.com reports that the Acting President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, had on May 18 signed three far-reaching executive orders expected to ease business, fast-track budget submission and promote made in Nigeria products.

     

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  • Ebola: FG orders screening of passengers at airports to check spread

    Ebola: FG orders screening of passengers at airports to check spread

    The Federal Government has ordered health workers to intensify screening of passengers coming into the country as part of deliberate efforts to check possible spread of Ebola virus.

    The Minister of Health, Prof. Isaac Adewole, said this when he briefed State House correspondents on the outcome of the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting which was presided over by acting President Yemi Osinbajo.

    TheNewsGuru.com recalls that Nigeria was hit with the deadly virus in 2014 when a Liberian, Patrick Sawyer, entered the country with the disease, causing its spread across the country with many deaths recorded.

    Adewole, however, stated that the acting president had directed relevant government agencies to intensify surveillance to avoid a recurrence.

    The minister said “we are aware of the outbreak of Ebola in DRC in the last couple of days. There are implications for this because one single case can trigger a public health alert.

    “For us as a country, we need to step up now. Fortunately for us, Ebola is not indigenous to Nigeria. For us to have Ebola outbreak in Nigeria, it has to be imported.

    “And so, what we need to do is to step up preparedness at all borders: land, sea and air, to ensure that we quickly identify a probable case, offer additional screening and quarantine.

    “The Acting President directed that we should step up activities at the border points and I did visit the port health services at Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, to confirm that surveillance activities are ongoing.”

    The minister announced that the ministry had already inaugurated an Ebola Preparedness Working Group to be chaired Dr Basanyi.

    Basanyi led the Nigerian contingent to Liberia for the Ebola control programme.

    Adewole also revealed that he briefed FEC on the current state of meningitis outbreak in some parts of the country.

    He said: “With respect to meningitis, FEC also received communication from the Minister of Health with regards to current state of meningitis.

    “We are in week 19 and we are happy to inform the nation that the number of new cases has been dropping since the last five weeks.

    “We are happy that we are getting almost to the end of the outbreak. Our main challenge is how to handle those already infected and so, we have two medical teams in the two states mostly affected — Zamfara and Sokoto States.”

    Also briefing correspondents on the outcome of the meeting, the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, said the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Mahmoud Yakub, briefed the Council on ongoing voters registration.

    “We invited the chairman of INEC to address council on the ongoing voters registration and to know the challenges he is facing.

    “The import of the exercise and I think Council was very satisfied with the presentation.

    “First, he made it known that this is the first time that we are going to have a real Continuous Voters Registration. Not the one that comes on before election or registration that goes on only in some parts of the country.

    “He also explained why it is not possible for the exercise to be conducted on polling unit basis because we have about 119,000 plus polling units.’’

    According to the minister, INEC needs a minimum of five personnel to man each of the polling unit and the cost cannot be accommodated by the commission’s budget.

    “Of course, the next preferred option would have been to take it to the local government which again, because of paucity of funds, it could not be accommodated. That’s why they are doing it at the local government basis.

    “But the important thing is that it is continuous. It will go on for the next 90 days and then continue for another 90 days.’’

     

     

     

     

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  • Ebola: FG increases screening at major airports

    Ebola: FG increases screening at major airports

    The Federal Government has deployed additional personnel, thermal scanners and sanitisers to Lagos and Abuja airports in order to prevent Ebola outbreak in Nigeria.

    The World Health Organisation recently confirmed the death of at least one person as a result of Ebola in the North-East of Congo

    Acting General Manager, Public Affairs, FAAN, Henrietta Yakubu said the authority had stepped up its surveillance on inbound travellers at the arrival halls of the Lagos and Abuja airports following the recent Ebola case in Congo.

    Yakubu stated, “Of course, the Congo incident has called for increased surveillance and screening. I’ve spoken with our doctors in Lagos, Port Health officials as well as those in Abuja and FAAN will definitely come up with something. There has to be increased surveillance now that Ebola has been detected in Congo.

    “By tomorrow, we will definitely come out with other things that FAAN is doing with respect to the issue you raised and I’ll let you know.

    “However, we have always had thermal scanners in our airports that monitor temperature of passengers and capture their pictures. We still have hand sanitisers in our rest rooms too.”

    Explaining how the equipment works, Yakubu added, “These scanners are fixed apparatus at the arrival halls that take the picture and temperature of any given passenger at a particular time as the traveller passes through them. And we have Port Health officers behind the apparatus.

    “So, once it detects a temperature that is above normal, the officials will just single you out immediately and take you out of the queue for further screening. That screening or exercise is going on up till this moment.

    “In fact, the equipment and officials have never been removed even after the last Ebola incident. They are now fixed apparatus in the arrival hall. We have it in Abuja and in Lagos airports. I’ll have to confirm that of Port Harcourt, but I’m sure they are in Abuja and Lagos.

    “Also going by the latest incident, we are increasing our screening.”

  • Ebola: We’ll step up surveillance in airports to ensure victims are caught – FAAN

    Ebola: We’ll step up surveillance in airports to ensure victims are caught – FAAN

    The Management of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) has assured Nigerians of adequate surveillance at the nation’s airports following the outbreak of Ebola virus in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

    TheNewsGuru.com reports that the World Health Organisation (WHO) had on Friday declared an Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo, saying that at least one person had been confirmed dead due to the virus in the country’s north-east.

    FAAN’s Acting General Manager, Corporate Affairs, Mrs. Henrietta Yakubu, who spoke to the newsmen on Saturday, said there was no direct flight from Congo to Nigeria.

    Yakubu also assured that all the preventive measures being put in place at the airports were still in place.

    She said that the Port Health officials were at alert at all airports, adding that the authority had also informed them of the need to increase surveillance.

    “We don’t have direct flights from Congo, we only have from Rwanda but I want to assure members of the public that we still have all preventive measures in place at our airports.

    “There are sanitisers at our arrivals with the scanning apparatus called Thermal scanners being installed by the Port Health Services.

    “The scanners have camera monitors that display pictures aside the capturing of temperature.

    “Passengers still fill that form to ensure that everybody arriving the country through our airports are not potential carriers of deadly diseases.

    “The port health officials are always at alert and we will also inform them of the need to increase their surveillance.

    “So, there is no cause for alarm,” she said.

    TheNewsGuru.com reports that the WHO had last Thursday warned that there might be an outbreak of the deadly Ebola virus again. It, however, assured that the new vaccine and rapid-response measures will contain the expected outbreak.

    TheNewsGuru.com recalls that Nigeria experienced the Ebola virus in July, 2014 when a Liberian American, Patrick Sawyer, who had the disease flew from Liberia to the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos and died five days later.

    In response, the Federal Government observed all of Sawyer’s contacts for signs of infection and increased surveillance at all entry points to the country.

    Nigeria was able to curtail the disease and was subsequently declared Ebola free by WHO.

     

     

     

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  • CBN finally bows to pressure, orders banks to open FX offices at airports

    The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has mandated banks to open Forex retail office at all major airports to ease transactions for intending travellers.

    The apex bank made the declaration in its new policy action on the Foreign Exchange Market today in Abuja on Monday.

    The statement reads in full:

    “New Policy Actions in the Foreign Exchange Market

    In continuation of efforts to increase the availability of Foreign Exchange in order to ease the difficulties encountered by Nigerians in obtaining funds for Foreign Exchange transactions, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) is providing direct additional funding to banks to meet the needs of Nigerians for Personal and Business Travel, Medical needs, and School fees, effective immediately. The CBN expects such retail transactions to be settled at a rate not exceeding 20 percent above the interbank market rate.

     

    1. Travel Allowances

    Having cleared the historic backlog of matured letters of credit at the inception of the current flexible exchange rate system, the CBN would immediately begin to provide foreign exchange to all commercial banks to meet the needs of both personal travel allowances (PTA) and business travel allowances (BTA) for onward sale to customers. All banks would receive amounts commensurate with their demand per week, which would be sold to customers who meet usual basic documentary requirements.

     

    1. School and Medical Fees

    Similarly, the CBN would meet the needs of parents, guardians and sponsors who are seeking to make payments of school and educational fees for their children and wards. Such payments must be made by commercial banks directly to the institution specified by the customer. The CBN would ensure that this process is as smooth as possible and that as many customers as possible get the foreign exchange they genuinely demand. This would also apply to customers seeking to make payments, or purchase foreign exchange, for medical bills and paid directly to hospitals. The supply of FX to retail end-users (PTA, BTA, School fees, medical bills, etc) would be sustained by the CBN.

     

    1. Forward Sales Tenor

    In order to further increase the availability of foreign exchange to all end-users, the CBN has decided to significantly reduce the tenor of its forward sales from the current maximum cycle of 180 days, to no more than 60 days from the date of transaction.

     

    1. FX Sales at Major Airports

    In order to further ease the burden of travellers and ensure that transactions are settled at much more competitive exchange rates, the CBN hereby directs all banks to open FX retail outlets at major airports as soon as logistics permit.

     

    1. Increase Efficiency of FX Market

    In order to maintain confidence in the FX market, the CBN will immediately take the following steps:

    1. Begin implementing its articulated program to clear all the unfilled orders in the interbank FX market;
    2. Given our plan to meet all unfilled orders, and while provision of FX to the manufacturing sector would remain the CBN’s strong priority, we will no longer impose allocation/utilization rules on commercial banks;
    3. Implement an effective intervention programme to support the inter-bank market to ensure adequate liquidity necessary to deliver an efficient FX market;
    4. Advise FMDQ to activate its FX Order-Book systems as soon as possible and also accelerate the on-boarding of FX clients on the FX Relationship Systems to ensure total transparency of the FX market.”
  • Nigerian airports well positioned to handle traffic flow during Christmas – FAAN

    Nigerian airports well positioned to handle traffic flow during Christmas – FAAN

    The Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) has assured members of the public, especially passengers and airline operators of hitch-free movement of passengers and cargo during the forthcoming Christmas.

    This is contained in a statement issued by the Acting General Manager, Public Affairs of FAAN, Mrs Henrietta Yakubu on Tuesday in Abuja.

    According to FAAN, necessary operational and security measures have been put in place at all airports across the country.

    Yakubu stated that the authority had also charged all Airport Managers to employ measures to ensure that only eligible persons had access to all restricted areas at the landside, terminals and airside.

    She said that Bomb Detection Unit of the Nigeria Police Force had also been charged to be more alert to compliment the efforts of aviation security personnel at the security screening points.

    “To reiterate her commitment to safety of lives and properties, the Federal Government through the Nigerian Airforce recently conducted Counter Terrorism Simulation live demonstration at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos.

    “Passenger facilitation at all our airports has also been enhanced by the upgrade of power installations, installation of modern and bigger conveyor belts and metal walk-through detectors, servicing of lifts and escalators.

    “Stringent measures are being taken to eradicate the menace of touts and other unwholesome activities around the terminals.’’

    Yakubu noted that the expansion and modernisation of airport terminals had provided better ambience and more space for restaurants at the terminals, as well as newly opened duty free shops.

    According to her, these provide duty-free shopping experience and help passengers relax comfortably while waiting for their flights.

    “FAAN, however, advises air passengers to make early arrangements for their travels and to leave home early on their travel dates, in order to complete their boarding facilities in good time.

    “We wish all passengers safe and enjoyable yuletide,’’ Yakubu added.

     

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