Aviation Minister, Chief Femi Fani-Kayode yesterday denied giving a directive that protocol officers at the nation’s airports should no longer be allowed to work there, noting that the circular reportedly crediting him with such a directive was at best a fabrication by an official of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja.
Fani-Kayode who stated that he could not have handed down such a directive, which he described as ‘ridiculous’ , said what he directed was that protocol officers should no longer give foreign diplomats and other prominent personalities coming into Nigeria or going out of the country easy passage to beat Immigration screening and other airport formalities.
According to him, the directive had become imperative because Nigerian diplomats and personalities are also made to undergo such immigration procedures and similar formalities at other airports across the world.
The minister who was fielding questions from newsmen at the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) headquarters in Lagos yesterday, noted that until now, protocol officers helped diplomats and other very prominent individuals access in and out of the airport without such people undergoing the normal airport formalities, including Immigration checks.
Fani-Kayode added that it was based on this discovery that he directed that protocol officers should no longer provide cover for the category of people in question without allowing them pass through the normal Immigration screening as Nigerians also undergo at foreign airports. “It’s unfair to assume that the honourable minister would have given a directive that is ridiculous and that is the case here. I am glad you raised that issue because it has been a sort of concern even for me. What I learnt was that one of my officers, I believe a GM (General Manager) in Abuja, issued a circular which said the honourable minister had said that no protocol officer should work at the airport or be allowed to enter the airport. Nothing could be farther from the truth. The honourable Minister of Aviation has not asked anybody to do that.
“There is no way the Minister of Aviation will give such a ridiculous directive,� Fani-Kayode said.
What I have directed and I stand by this, is that from now on, we will not allow a situation whereby diplomats or anybody else are fetched from the aircraft by protocol officers or anybody else without going through Immigration security point. That’s what we’re opposed to because when our government officials and diplomats go to foreign countries, they are compelled by law to go through the relevant immigration points as so on and so forth and there is nothing wrong with that.
“We should and have been setting standards…The protocol officers can continue to do their jobs but we will not allow a situation for them or anybody else to begin to receive people or VIPs into our airports without going through immigration and the necessary screening. How does that translate that we should ban protocol officers from entering the airport? I am very disturbed with that and I have to take time to clarify issues”, the minister pointed out.
He added that the FAAN official who issued the “fabrication” has been queried and would be sanctioned appropriately.
On the Thursday’s warning to foreign airlines which have been indulging in maltreatment and lack of respect for Nigerian passengers, the minister re-affirmed the seriousness with which the Federal Government viewed the issue, adding that no airline worth its name would ignore the warning.
According to him, Nigeria has not degenerated to a banana republic where any airline would choose not to comply with the warning.
ITo underscore the point being made on lack of respect for Nigerian passengers, the minister stated that prominent businessman, Olorogun Michael Ibru was treated shabbily by British Airways officials recently, pointing out however that the airline has apologised with a promise not to repeat such an act.
Jan62007