The World Bank on Friday handed over the newly completed perimeter fence round the Abuja Airport to the Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria (FAAN).

The Project Manager, World Bank Finance Project in the Ministry of Aviation, Mr Emmanuel Audu, while handing over the fence in Abuja said the fence was to boost security in and around the airport.

He said that since the issue of insecurity increased in the country, the Federal Government had taken many precautionary measures to stem it and the perimeter fence was one of such acts to tackle it.

"The Federal Government has been taking several measures to see that our airports are sufficiently secured.

"It is on the basis of this that the International Development Association of the World Bank financed this project which started since 2009.

"Today's handover is the climax of it all as we are here to hand over the operational area of the perimeter to the management of FAAN in Abuja," he said.

Audu said that the perimeter plays significant role in the airport in the area of security, adding that it would help to secure the operational areas in the airport, "especially at this time of security challenges".

Mr Chris Bature, the Regional General Manager, North Central, FAAN, thanked the project coordination unit of the World Bank Finance Project for the gesture.

Bature said: "the completion of the inner perimeter fence is a great achievement because it is

a big march toward beefing up security at the airport.

"With the fence in place now, we will be able to control the intrusion into the air sight of both human and animal movement."

He expressed optimism that the outer fence, which is still ongoing, would be completed soon.

NAN