The director of Airport Operations of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), Captain Henry Omeogu has alleged that staff of the agency working along the runway and airside could be aiding the stealing of cables and bulbs that provide lightening to the runways.

He noted that this is jeopardisng the smooth landing of aircraft at the runways of the Murtala Muhammed Airport in Lagos.

Speaking as at the 2015 Murtala Muhammed Airport Safety Week in Lagos, Omeogu frowned at what he called the indiscriminate posting of untrained personnel to the airside.

He said the agency spends huge amount of money replacing missing cables that are critical equipment apparently stolen by those mandated to oversee their safety and ensure no foreign objects found its way into the runways of the airports.

He disclosed that both the actions and the inactions of the personnel often result in serious incidents like the ones involving IRS, HAK, Emirates and FirstNation aircraft either while landing or taxing along the taxiways and taxi lanes.

Engineer Henry Omeogu

He cited two incidents at the Port Harcourt airport recently when an aircraft landed and veered into the grass area having mistakenly taken a foreign object on the runway as the centre light because the bulbs malfunctioned, including an airside driver who ignorantly drove a construction vehicle across the runway at the Enugu airport just to pick him up during an inspection tour of the facility.

He said, “that is why l frowned at the indiscriminate posting of untrained personnel by both the airport authority and the airlines to the airside as these personnel are nothing but hazards that may course serious and regrettable accidents.”

He said the authority is carrying out investigation into the theft.

He challenged the personnel to religiously work round the clock to identify cracks on the runway,wildfire, oil spillage, indiscriminate parking and frequent buildup of rubber as a result of frequent landing of aircraft.

Omegu stated further that, “accidents and incidents that involve vehicles on the airside are attributed to lack of training, influence of drugs, and over speeding on the apron and airside. This must be avoided”

He explained that the 2015 Safety Week is to be used to provide awareness to both staff, stakeholders and the travelling public on the need to observe safety culture at the airport environment.