AI for airport security screening coming, says FAAN’s Igbafe

ACP Afegbai Albert Igbafe, director, aviation security services, FAAN

Sade Williams/Business a.m.

The deployment of artificial intelligence (AI) for security screening across airports in Nigeria is in the works, says Igbafe Albert Afegbai, a retired assistant commissioner of police and the director of aviation security services (AVSEC), Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN).

The plan by FAAN comes in the wake of airports globally continuing to leverage on artificial intelligence (AI) and other emerging technologies to improve access control with the deployment of AI-powered systems in Nigeria’s airports now said to be “as soon as possible”.

In an interview Igbafe said: “With the help of the managing director and the honourable minister, we  are looking at some companies who have made propositions for AI, and as I said, we are going to do the access control, and the access control will work with an AI system, whereby when somebody is coming into the airport, there is a way they can pick you. If you have any weapons with you, if you have anything that is with you, the AI will detect it. And immediately send a signal to the command centre, we are working on that.”

The AVSEC boss, who said the Authority is already closing the gaps identified by International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) officials during the last security audit, added that the access control being put in place will further help in closing the gaps.

“When we came on board, we had the ICAO audit and they gave us their own marks. We met a lot of issues when we came on board. We tried to fix a lot of them by providing some of the amenities like the CCTV cameras, we upgraded them. Now, presently, we are trying to do access control whereby every individual that is coming to the airport will be properly checked because we found that we have a lot of concessionaires, we have a lot of security people who are not supposed to be at the airport that come in and out. So right now, we will put the access control in place, I think it will help us a lot and we have a lot of gaps during the ICAO audit so we’re trying to fix up those gaps,” he said.

Speaking on issues with perimeter fencing, Igbafe stated that the Authority has put in place a lot of measures to curb encroachments, adding that a lot is still being planned to nip in the bud, issues emanating from perimeter fencing encroachments.

“Well, if you’re talking about the perimeter fencing, it’s an issue in the sense that first of all, when we came on board, we had a lot of encroachments in the perimeter areas because it’s a vast land. We have been trying to put in place measures with the little resources we have, mostly on patrol measures. We have patrols at night. We have observation posts, which are being manned by the AVSEC personnel. Then we have joint patrols with the military, the Air Force, and the AVSEC personnel. And because of the perimeter area too we just recently launched the armed unit of the AVSEC.

“But most of the issue we have has to do with the fencing and a lot of the fences have been destroyed by the neighbouring communities. I will tell you there is a big challenge because we will get as many as 20 to 30 intruders every night. And the problem we are having is our court system. When we hand them over to the police before we know they are released. The legal department of FAAN is collaborating with the attorney general of the state to help us get mobile courts so these things will be handled swiftly,” he added.

Speaking on what has been achieved in the few months under his watch,  he said: ‘When I came on board, I was shocked that AVSEC has been in existence for over ten years. But, their uniforms were not gazetted. I‘ve done that. AVSEC personnel were not being trained. Some people five years, 10 years, 15 years ago. Some people have been in AVSEC for about 20 years, they’ve not gone on the course. So, with the assistance of the MD and the minister, they released funds. Even presently, as we are talking now, we have Ghanaians, Sierra Leoneans and Gambians who are attending courses in our ASTC, which is the aviation security training centre. Because we happen to be one of the security outfits or one of the countries that are certified by ICAO.

“So, we have achieved a lot. When we came in,  the second international runway had been closed for over nine months. And we tried our best, the MD, the minister, the director of airport operations and the director of engineering. They all put heads together and it was reopened. I can assure you that between now and December, you will see a new face of Aviation and the airports,” he said.