FEC approves N3.23bn narcotic detection systems at 5 airports

The Federal Executive Council (FEC) has given the green light for a contract worth N3,233,000,600 to supply and install customised exclusive and narcotic detection screening systems for five international airports in Nigeria.

This was revealed by the Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo, on Monday after the fourth cabinet meeting chaired by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

He said the detection screening systems would have a drive-through mechanism in Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, Murtala Mohammed International Airport, Lagos, Mallam Aminu Kano International Airport, and two others in Enugu and Port Harcourt.

Keyamo said the council decided to procure the equipment to ease the burden of past experiences for Nigerians.

“You see various security agencies lined up; NDLEA, they say, open your bag; customs, open your bag; EFCC, open your bag; they will dig into your bags. So, we thought we should do something like you have TSA in America, where you have detection machines; when they pass through, it detects explosives.”

On the benefits of this agreement, he said the country’s routes to South America were limited, and as such, it would serve as a transit route for Nigerians travelling across the region.

The Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi, said FEC also endorsed Nigeria’s draft human rights reports for further transmission to the United Nations Commission on Human Rights.

He stated that the endorsement was for the fourth cycle of the United Nations Universal Periodic Review, in compliance with the practice of reporting human rights records.

In the reports, the minister said the country refuted the allegation that Nigeria employed children in the Armed Forces and discriminated against women because of information that some areas denied them the right to inherit fathers’ property.