Airports at the mercy of land grabbers

Land grabbers and property developers across the country have continued to willfully encroach on lands belonging to the airports which the authorities are battling to address. Daily Trust examines the implication of building on flight paths which has seemingly become a norm nationwide. Recently, the Manager of Ilorin International Airport, Alhaji Abubakar Bibi and council […]

Land grabbers and property developers across the country have continued to willfully encroach on lands belonging to the airports which the authorities are battling to address. Daily Trust examines the implication of building on flight paths which has seemingly become a norm nationwide.
Recently, the Manager of Ilorin International Airport, Alhaji Abubakar Bibi and council officials of Ilorin West Local Government Area of Kwara State led by the chairman, Alhaji Zulu Oloje visited the corporate headquarters of Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) in Lagos on a mission to find a lasting solution to the recurring issue of encroachment on land belonging to the airport.
The team met with the Managing Director of FAAN, Engr. Saleh Dunoma on the lingering issue following the development of some buildings and projects on land belonging to the airport. The Ilorin Airport over the years has been battling with the encroachment of its 2, 248 hectares of land by neighbouring communities coupled with the invasion of the airport by herders who move about their cattle inside the airport.
This challenge is not only peculiar to Ilorin Airport. In fact FAAN is concerned with the way and manner by which land grabbers are encroaching on the land belonging to Murtala Mohammed International Airport (MMIA) in Lagos; the development which poses a threat to safety security at the airport.
At a time the world focuses attention on airport security in the wake of recent attack on Brussels Airport in Belgium and Ataturk Airport in Istanbul, Turkey, experts say it is high time Nigeria beamed searchlight on airport vicinity to prevent the kind of attack from happening in Nigeria. More than anything the vulnerability of some airports to incursion calls for concern.
Daily Trust reports that significant portions of land belonging to the Lagos airport at Shasha area as well as Ajao have been illegally taken over. Many houses have sprung up close to the airport thereby exposing the airport to danger.
Worried by the encroachment on the Lagos Airport land, the authority recently published a caveat emptor notice on some national dailies informing the public of the land areas of the airport and the need to beware of fraudulent land agents. One of the messages read, “The management of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria wishes to inform the general public that the entire piece and parcel of land known and described as Shasha Area of the Airport, approximately 56,705 Hectares with bearings of the encroached boundary points given below starting from Pillar marked PBC 877 belongs to FAAN.”
Our correspondent observed that many houses including estates have been erected close to Lagos Airport while in several other places,  houses were erected next to the terminal wall.
A FAAN source said, “The encroachment on airport landing is an issue we are seriously battling with across the country. We are however not resting on our oars as we continue to sue anybody who encroaches on airport land. Luckily we have been getting favourable judgments and this would send signal to people who encroach on airport land that we would continue to explore all legal means to recover all our lands from land grabbers. These people apart from taking what belongs to the national heritage, they also constitute danger because by building on flight paths, you create danger to lives and properties.”
FAAN currently manages 22 airports most of which were not fenced and this according to findings by Daily Trust is responsible for the encroachment on its lands. The authority is therefore exploring means of keeping the airports’ vicinities across the country safe, secure and insulated from external invasions.  
But experts say the most effective solution to keep people away from airport environment is to erect perimeter fences. The challenge however remains the huge finance involved in constructing perimeter fences. Recently, FAAN disclosed that at least N25bn would be needed to construct perimeter and operational fences in all the 22 airports it manages.
Apart from the four international airports in Lagos, Abuja, Kano and Port Harcourt that are partially fenced, the 18 others managed by FAAN are not fenced.
General Manager, Corporate Affairs of FAAN, Mr. Yakubu Dati, disclosed that a recent survey by the authority indicated that to completely fence the 22 airports, it would need N25bn.
According to him, each airport is about 50 kilometres long and will require huge investments for all of them to be properly fenced in line with the standards recommended by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO).
The 22 airports are said to occupy over 500 kilometres of land mass, while ICAO security guidelines prescribe that all airports must be secured with double perimeter fences.
The FAAN spokesman noted that because most of the airports were unfenced, there had been encroachment on their land by nearby communities.
 “However, we have introduced the perimeter patrol and built perimeter towers, which enable the aviation security personnel and other security agencies to have the full view of the airport environment. We have also installed the latest technologies in strategic locations to increase surveillance,”  Dati said.
The General Manager however stressed that the authority would not relent in its efforts to secure the airports’ lands from land grabbers.
An aviation security expert, Group Capt. John Ojikutu notes that airports in the country must have perimeter fencing that would serve as security fence to prevent incursion from outsiders.
He said, “We are not immune from attacks. Terrorists are everywhere, they are around, all they just do is to look for the soft spot. The airport is a soft target as far as I am concerned. Murtala Mohammed is at the centre of an urban development area.  It is surrounded by houses that are urban houses- when you look at Ejigbo, Kowonjo area, Mafoloku, you find houses that are built next to the fence. So we are not immune. I don’t know the standard we have created for perimeter fence when you don’t have a security fence. We must have a security fence.