Lagos — The controversy generated by the incident on August 6, 2010 at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Lagos between the Speaker, House of Representatives, Dimeji Bankole, and British Airways security officials while the speaker was about to board a BA aircraft was uncalled-for and unnecessary.

According to some reports, Bankole was alleged to have refused to submit his hand luggage and that of his aide, one Emmanuel Adegoke, for screening, claiming privileges for his position, after which he allegedly sought to force his way on to the London-bound flight, but BA officials insisted that they would search his luggage and person.

The rate at which some very important persons (VIPs) in society are portraying the image of Nigeria with their refusal to adhere to screening as it relates to passengers by airlines in and out of the country is not only alarming but equally disturbing

Disturbing because the recent incident on August 6, 2010 involving the Bankole and British Airways security officials came at the time when the Nigeria through the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) was trying to secure from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Category 1 certification which will allow Nigerian airlines to fly into the US airspace.

Explaining what transpired in an email to Daily Independent, BA said Bankole and his personal assistant, Adegoke, were "off-loaded prior to boarding (flight) BA074. They refused to surrender their four pieces of hand luggage to BA security for hand search. The airline's duty manager explained to the speaker that this was a mandatory security check; he (Bankole) still refused and tried to force his way into the aircraft. He was immediately off-loaded. Airline and other airport duty officials, including the Captain (BA's) London security manager were informed. Some customers witnessed the incident".

On his part, Bankole said he aborted his journey to avoid an "embarrassing scene".

According to him, "For the record, the British Government exempts security searches on Presidents, Vice-presidents and Speakers of national parliaments among all other VIPs and BA is the national carrier of Britain."

As at the time of compiling this report, Nigeria has already closed the eight critical elements, according the Director General of NCAA, Dr Harold Demuren, necessary for the certification of Nigeria as a Category 1 air safety rating.

The eight critical elements which are mandatory for the Nigerian civil aviation include legislation, regulation, CAA structure and oversight functions, qualified technical personnel, technical guidance, licensing and certification, surveillance obligations and resolution of safety concerns.

The feat which Nigeria started chasing in 2006 is usually achieved in five years but because of the seriousness of the regulatory body and the fulfilment of the eight critical conditions, the director general has said is very optimistic that the feat is achievable within three years.

The issue of VIPs evading screening procedures at our airports tend to portray Nigeria as a country where international regulations governing air travel sanctioned by the International Civil Aviation Organisation(ICAO)is been flouted by VIP's with impunity.

Today this issue is raising dust and the questions being asked are; who is right? Bankole, who resisted been screened because he felt it was a slap on his part as the Speaker of the House of Representatives or the British Airways security officials, who insisted that he must be screened? What does ICAO regulation on the matter say before the incident? What does the new rule say after the Umar Farouk Abdulmutala, December 25, 2009 failed attempt to blow up an America bound aircraft?

But as we ponder over these questions, the director general of NCAA, at a lecture in Lagos reiterated that only the President and his family and the Vice President and his family are exempted from undergoing screening. Again, is this the new rule? If it is, why is Bankole complaining? Or was the new rule not communicated to him? Which agency is assigned with the responsibility of communicating this to other agencies, NCAA? What is the role of Nigeria missions and Ministry of Foreign Affairs?

These questions are coming up because of the controversy generated by the Bankole /BA saga and for the fact that the airline involved is a foreign airline, which equally has a lot of Nigerian VIP patronising it.

Before now, the problem of VIPs evading security screening is common on domestic flights and these incidents have been not treated with the kind of attention it deserves and it does not speak well of Nigeria as a country pursuing Category 1 from FAA.

In 2005, a former minister refused to be screened by the security at the airport despite the insistence of the then Airport Manager, Mr. Taiwo Okuyiga, that he pass through the security screening process like any other passengers.

Ironically, the same minister was few months after the incident was made the minister of Aviation by the same government and the first casualty was the airport manager who insisted on enforcing international rules and regulations at Lagos airport.

Before the manager was sacked, he was first transferred to Yola Airport from the MMIA, Lagos and when the retrenchment exercise was carried out; his name was included conspicuously on the list. What a way to preach safety.

As at the time of compiling this piece, Okuyiga is working for Bi-Courtney Aviation Services Limited (BASL) enforcing the same international rules and regulations as it concerns air travel, which he was not allowed to do while working for the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN).

Again, in 2009, it was alleged that the Minister of Aviation, Babatunde Omotoba, called the office of an airline ordering it to sack a cabin crew attached to the airline Lagos to Abuja flight for daring to tell him not to carry a check -in luggage as a hand luggage

The minister's attitude was said to have attracted the attention of some of the passengers on board the flight including Mr. Segun Awolowo. Daily Independent learnt he openly challenged and condemned the minister's action.

He was said to have also asked the minister to obey the standard rules of the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO), adding that law is no respecter of anybody.

As a minister of aviation, one would have expected him to know simple aviation security and safety rules and obey the cabin crew's advice without flexing muscles most especially when Nigeria was still trying to understand why it was placed on the country of interest list as it regards terrorism by the U.S.

The minister was said to have exhibited the usual Nigerian 'VIP' way of doing things in the public by threatening to sack the lady.

The minister in a bid to leave up to his threat was said to have called the office of the airline on the telephone ordering it to sack the cabin crew but that the airline told him that the lady in question was only doing her job.

The airline Daily Independent learnt did not stop there, as the airline was said to have told the minister it cannot sack the lady for implementing safety rules but that if the minister had said the lady was rude to him it would have been a different issue.

At Murtala Muhammed Airport (MMA2) terminal 2 , Lagos, for instance, hardly will you not find military officers or other security agencies cars parked at drop zones, even when there is a designated place allocated to them to park their cars.

This area is not a car park but where cars pick arriving passengers, or whomever they have come to the airport to pick without wasting much time. It is also where drivers drop departing (passengers travelling) without necessarily making a car park.

But on the contrary the gun wielding aides to military men and senior police officers flout this rule with impunity to the detriment of aviation security. These drivers and their bosses should have known that aviation security is not limited to passengers on board an aircraft but it equally include safety on ground in and around the airport.

The attitude of the aides and their masters most times have left the aviation security at the terminal helpless, as they tend to want to show that they are military men anytime they asked to go and park at the appropriate place and wait for their masters.

This behaviour is not restricted to the MMA2 terminal; it also applies to the General Aviation Terminal (GAT).

These aides to military officers and their master should made to understand that airport terminal is not their barrack and such must obey the rules and regulations guiding the operations of the terminal not minding whether the people enforcing these rules are 'bloody civilians', who may not have not seen the four walls of a training camp.

On the VIP, it is surprising that the same people who claimed to be VIPs in Nigeria behave themselves when they travel out of this country. If that is the case what is their problem. Why are these VIPs not finding it difficult to obey aviation security screening at Nigerian airports while they willing submit themselves to the same process abroad? It is a food for thought for the Nigerian government, as most of the VIPs who have resisted security screening in the past at Nigerian airports are government officials.