Aviation security experts have called for a joint task force made up of security operatives to fight headlong, the illicit activities of touts at the nation's international airports, which they said, would continue to damage the image of Nigeria globally and constitute insider threat to security, if not addressed.
The experts, who spoke to THISDAY, said touting remained a protracted problem at the international airports, which has so far defied solution.
This, they said, is because some officials of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) abet the nefarious activity.
Aviation security expert and the Chief Executive Officer of Selective Security International Limited, Mr. Ayo Obilana, told THISDAY in a telephone interview that touting has been an age-long problem that is as old as the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Lagos, the nation's busiest gateway. According to him touting has been extended to other international airports in Kano, Abuja, Port Harcourt and Enugu.
Touting is a manifestation of what happens in our society, which include extortion, begging for arms and even stealing, he said.
Obilana categorised the touts into three groups to include: the group he referred to as executives that dresses in suits, always well dressed, which they use as cover to engage in illicit activities without suspicion. The second is the staff of the agencies that work at the airports and the third are outright criminals.
He noted that the staff and criminals have solidarity and are able to extort their victims, while the workers use their identity to cover up for the obnoxious action of the criminals, saying that touting is a network that has thrived for decades.
"When they are sacked they come back. The criminals partner with the staff. Criminals steal passengers' luggage and perpetrate all kinds of crimes. They are the most dangerous," he said.
Obilana said while touting has existed for a long time was because the law against their nefarious activities had not been stringent enough, and that when some of the touts are arrested and taken to the police they are released because they act in cahoots with some security operatives, including police officials that operate at the airport.
He also said penalty for loitering which could be N5,000 to N20, 000 is not high enough to deter the touts, considering the amount of money they make from passengers who become their victims and suggested that government should adopt a strategic means to eliminate them because they erode the security apparatus of the airports and damage the image of Nigeria abroad.
Another aviation security expert, and former Commandant at the Murtala Muhammed Airport, Lagos and currently the CEO of Centurion Security and Safety Consultant, Group Captain John Ojikutu (rtd), told THISDAY that most of the touts were mainly those who have worked before at the airports, well known to their colleagues who are still in service and are still with their ID cards and sometimes too, they still have their On Duty Cards (ODC) if they were not retrieved from them during their exit.
"These I consider as insiders threats to aviation security in the airports, on airlines and on cargo. There must be thorough profiling of everyone at the access into the passengers gate separate from the staff gates. Each passenger should not be allowed into the terminal buildings with more than two persons who must be identified with the passenger and pay the same airport service charge as the passenger. The gate for the staff must be electronically controlled; that would allow the staff in, if and only if he is on duty and his ODC must so be programmed. The peculiarity of the MMIA in the midst of uncontrolled urban development and complicated roads networks demanded such stringent control. I have even suggested that the present tollgate should be shifted to the two roads leading into the airport towards the domestic and international terminals to electronically capture and profile everyone and vehicles at entry and exit. Staff, passengers, and those on transit can be identified," Ojikutu said.
A senior Immigration official who worked at MMIA for several years told THISDAY that some of those who constitute touts at the airports include police, FAAN officials both retired and those still working, disclosing that they hide under protocol officers and use the cover to commit all kinds of atrocities at the airports.
According to him, Aviation Security officials of FAAN who stay at the gate, extort money from passengers. Parents who wish to see off their children travelling abroad are stopped at the gate and are only allowed when they pay some money.
"Some of the touts have understanding with FAAN officials. They do all sorts of nonsense. Touting can be stopped through joint efforts of police and FAAN in form of task force because FAAN officials and police at the airports know the faces of touts that operate at these airports," he said.
The Managing Director of Flight and Logistics Solutions Limited, Amos Akpan, who has operated many years at the Lagos airport and has managed airlines, told THISDAY that touting at the airports was a reflection of government's attitude towards governance.
"Touts at our airports reflect the manner our government agencies conduct their businesses in all sectors of governance. Officials and offices have non-staff members who "assist" members of public get their services at unofficial fees. The touts act as "brokers" to assist you get whatever services the agency provides. If you decide to personally process by yourself what services you require from that government agency, they will frustrate you. Even when they deploy modern technology that you could use to obtain their services by self-service, the system will frustrate you, but the tout will easily use same system.
Sign up for free AllAfrica Newsletters
Get the latest in African news delivered straight to your inbox
"Every tout exists at the airport and operates at the airport with the knowledge of the airport officials. No strange 'unauthorized' fellow has the audacity to assist customers in the airport with tickets, cargo, immigration, customs, taxi, parking etc without the knowledge of officials including the officials of the airport authority, the handling companies, the airlines, the customs, the immigration, the security agencies. Most of the people we call touts are ex-staff of these agencies and companies in the airport who are very familiar with the geography of the territory and the processes of getting services in the airport," Akpan said.
Akpan said unknown and unidentified touts are security risks at the airports, noting that they will commit crimes and smear the image of the airports and the country.
"Airport authorities must have control over every traffic in and out of their airports. They should adopt, acquire, and use more modern technology to manage the airports. One can see FAAN's efforts at Murtala Mohammed International Airport. But FAAN needs cooperation of the agencies, the associations, and the unions like; the car hire unions, the association of Nigerian customs licensed agents, the courier companies, protocol companies, registered airport shuttle buses/cars, the domestic air cargo agents, the organized trade/labour unions, and the security agencies," he further said.
