The Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria has announced plans to install advanced artificial intelligence-powered security screening machines at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Lagos as part of efforts to enhance aviation security and streamline passenger checks.
Speaking with journalists during a weekend tour of the airport, FAAN’s Director of Aviation Security Services, Afegbai Igbafe, revealed that the installation of the new machines and accompanying monitors is already in progress. Once completed, the traditional customs tables at screening points will be removed.
According to Igbafe, the upgraded system will feature six dedicated monitors, one for each of the six key security agencies operating at the airport, allowing their officials to independently monitor baggage content directly from their screens.
He stated, “The tables you see will be a thing of history; you will not see any table here. There will be no physical contact, because what we are also doing is that when we fix those monitors and the machines dictate unaccepted objects, the concerned officials will take the passenger and his or her baggage to designated areas for physical checks.
“The designated areas will also have CCTV cameras. This is to ensure the passengers are not being exploited. When the machines dictate something, the Aviation Security, AVSEC, calls the relevant agencies, such as the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, Customs, and quarantine, amongst others, to follow up.”
Igbafe further noted that the deployment would improve inter-agency coordination and eliminate unnecessary contact between passengers and officials, thereby reducing the risk of extortion and ensuring more efficient screening processes.
On collaboration with the NDLEA, he disclosed that the existing security equipment had limitations in detecting certain illicit substances, but the new machines would significantly enhance drug detection capabilities.
“Before we bought the new machines, our machines were not detecting some drugs, but with the new machines, we will start to train some of the security agencies, like the NDLEA, the DSS, the immigration and the quarantine,” he said.
Also speaking on the development, the Head of the Information and Communication Technology Department at MMIA, Chima Oge, explained that one of the new devices, the Orion 927DX, is designed to improve the identification of organic substances.
“It has features that would help with the identification of organic materials accurately and quickly, either in range mode, which highlights the areas based on the range selected by the operator, and/or in interactive mode which provides the operator the option to display the areas based on the value of the pixel,” Oge said.
However, the initiative has attracted criticism from some quarters. Retired Group Captain and aviation security analyst, John Ojikutu, questioned the efficacy of the new machines and whether their deployment would lead to the discontinuation of secondary hold-baggage screening by foreign airlines.
He said, “Would this stop the foreign airlines from stopping their secondary hold-baggage screening? I very much doubt it. The machine can not work alone but is operated by someone. The machine may be TSA approved, but have the foreign airlines discarded secondary screening for their hold-luggage or checked-in luggage and are now relying on the FAAN baggage screening?
“After the Abdulmutalab exit through the MMA, the TSA bought and gave us a body-screening machine for free. What happened to it after a year is what we were asking ourselves and should be asking ourselves today.”
Despite the scepticism, FAAN insists the new system represents a major leap forward in aviation security infrastructure and will reinforce Nigeria’s compliance with international standards while safeguarding the integrity of airport operations.
