We Won’t Shut Kaduna Airport Over Staff Abduction – FG

The federal government says it will not halt operations at the Kaduna International Airport despite an attack on staff quarters of Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN).

Two houses in the staff quarters was attacked by suspected bandits on Saturday during which 11 persons were abducted.

However, Hamisu Yadudu, managing director of the FAAN has said the the Kaduna airport will not be shut down because of the incident.

Yadudu, who spoke while receiving the senate committee on aviation in Lagos over the weekend,  said only a handful of staff members of FAAN reside in the quarters as majority of them leave in town.

While noting that the attack is just a security concern and does not require any urgent action, he added that the incident will not deter the agency from going after criminals.

“This incident is entirely different from closing down the airport. It is a security concern that we have at our staff quarters,” he said.

“A lot of our staff do not even live in these quarters. If there is a need for us to close it, we will close it, but this is even far away from it.

“There is no need for that drastic action. Just a small percentage of our members of staff stay in the staff quarters; the rest are all living in the town.

“You can see that the staff quarters are fenced. We are taking appropriate measures, but like I said, we just have to improve to counter these challenges.

“Though the fence was broken, somehow, somewhere, things happened, and now it is time for us to counter as we have been doing always.”

He said FAAN had, since 2020, beefed up security at the various airports across the country.

On his part, Smart Adeyemi, chairman of the senate committee, reiterated the need to restructure the the entire country, saying it is the panacea to the security challenges that betide the country.

He stated the clamour for restructuring would not lead to disintegration of the country, as being claimed in some quarters.

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