Airport Security Personnel Being Screened By DSS To Carry Guns

About a hundred qualified Aviation Security personnel are to be screened to bear arms at airports. This is as the Federal Government finalizes moves to deploy armed Aviation Security (AVSEC).

The Department of State Services has been deployed to carry out the screening exercise.

It was also gathered that shooting ranges for the AVSEC officers had been 80 per cent completed at the Lagos and Abuja airports, while the armory was also being worked on currently.

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The Minister of Aviation, Hadi Sirika, had announced in March 2018 that aviation security personnel of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria would be licensed to carry arms at airports, following the approval granted by the Federal Government.

Senior officials at the Federal Ministry of Aviation and FAAN told our correspondent on Monday in Abuja that the arming of AVSEC officers was a presidential directive and that the process was in its final stages.

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“We started in phases and we’ve gone far with the screening of qualified officers by the Department of State Security. They (DSS) are assisting us. They are evaluating the psychological aspect, medical angle, vetting of those who should carry arms, etc,” a senior official at the FMA, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to speak on the matter, said.

The source added, “We are looking at these things critically. Also, on training we want to make it first, second and third lines of trainings until we are very sure that the officer is confident and would act as a professional.”

In October, the Managing Director, FAAN, Capt. Rabiu Yadudu, and the Director, Aviation Security Services, Group Capt. Usman Sadiq, confirmed that the process for arming AVSEC officers was at a very advanced stage.

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