The Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) has refuted claims that screening machines were being cannibalised at the nation’s airports.
Henrietta Yakubu, General Manager, Corporate Communications, FAAN, told journalists at the Murtala Muhammed Airport (MMA), Lagos.
The three screening machines at the Lagos airport had developed fault over the weekend which delayed facilitation of passengers.
Yakubu noted that there were sufficient spare parts of FAAN’s equipment nationwide to replace faulty ones, adding that its engineers also carry out periodic maintenance on them.
”We don’t cannibalise our machines. We use them to screen passengers and baggage that come to the airport. FAAN is a very serious agency.
“We will not cannibalise machines. It is just because the machines were running all of the time and they just decided to breakdown. Some things happen that you don’t have a control over.
“Those things broke down not because of non-availability of spare parts. Machines do breakdown just like human do. The machines work daily for 24 hours.
”They just had technical glitches during the week and before the end of the day, one of the machines was fixed and it started working. And over the weekend, all the three machines were back in perfect working conditions.”
According to her, FAAN remains committed to the safety and comfort of passengers which can only be achieved by ensuring that its equipment were always in order.
She emphasised that the breakdown of the machines did not compromise security due to the assistance rendered by the security operatives at the airport who carried out manual check-in on passengers.
