FAAN clears air on pilferage, collapsed man

The Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAsswN), has offered clarifications on the complaints lodged by a passenger, Mr. Olakunle Tayo Fapohunda, alleging  that  two officials of Aviation Security Corp pilfered £400 from his wallet while going through the scanning machine on  December 22, enroute London on a Virgin Atlantic flight.

The authority, according to its spokesperson,  Mrs. Henrietta Yakubu, has carried out a thorough investigation on the matter which revealed that the allegation was false.

Mrs. Yakubu said footages from the close circuit television cameras uploaded by the team of investigators revealed that none of the two officers touched the tray.

She said: “The only person who touched the tray was a NAHCO staff, who was behind him, and only pushed the tray forward to create space for her bag to come out of the Xray machine. We were able to clearly establish that throughout Mr. Olakunle’s movement within the screening point, nobody removed anything from his tray.

“While we appreciate this feedback and will like to express our appreciation to him for same, we will like to state that the Aviation Security Corp is a disciplined Corp, that has consistently recovered and returned many items forgotten or lost by passengers over the years.

“Although, we are mindful of the fact that it is not impossible to have a few bad eggs within the Corp, we  will like to assure you that the authority does not condone such acts of indiscipline, and we have conducted this investigation with utmost care and due diligence.

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“We are open to making the contents of the CCTV footage available to Mr. Olakunle in case he wants to see it.

“Finally, while advising that we all should be careful with making public unsubstantiated allegations because such acts are capable of ruining the lives and careers of those involved, we will like to reassure our esteemed passengers that our airports are safe and secure, and our officers will continue to discharge their duties efficiently and professionally.”

Meanwhile, FAAN has dismissed  passengers’ complaints of lack of emergency services at Abuja Airport.

FAAN’s response was sequel to a report that a man collapsed while boarding a flight at Abuja Airport.

Mrs. Yakubu said: “With respect to a video making the rounds on social media, where a passenger about to board an Air Peace flight from Abuja collapsed, we  hereby notify the public that the passenger in question received immediate attention , as a FAAN officer, Mr. Ajani, immediately revived the unconscious passenger by performing cardiopulmonary resuscitation on the passenger before the arrival of the medical team, which arrived shortly after to administer first aid treatment and subsequently evacuated the passenger to the Air Force Base clinic.

“FAAN will like to use this opportunity to appreciate feedback we are getting to drive and improve our processes. We appeal to  stakeholders to always be orderly and proactive  in the face of emergency situations as on that day, a Port Health officer  on duty was intimidated and hindered from assisting the sick passenger.

“Interference, threats  and agitations only undermine the focus on saving lives, and further slows the emergency response process.

“Additionally, we also do appeal that please, the privacy of any distressed  person(s) in our facilities be always respected by desisting from just merely watching, and recording such persons for public broadcast. To succeed in resolving emergencies, we do  need more hands on deck, than on the phone.”