Also, the Nigerian Immigration Service, NIS, counters at the departure lounge of the terminal have increased to 60 from its initial four while its arrival desks at the terminal also increased to 10.
This development has further improved passengers facilitation at the terminal.
The removal of SSS at the screening points was one of the recommendations of a committee set up by the Federal Government to ensure that the nation’s airports conform with international best practices.
The committee, which was headed by the Special Adviser to the President on Ethics and Values, Mrs. Sarah Jibril, claimed that in other airports across the world, their security personnel were not seen at the departure and arrival lounges and, therefore, recommended immediate removal of SSS and other security agencies at the screening points.
The recommendation, National Mirror gathered, was approved by President Goodluck Jonathan.
Before now, SSS and even the police were part of the security apparatus at the departure and arrival ports, re-checking passengers who have already been screened by the immigration and the Aviation Security of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria, FAAN.
The situation over the years has brought condemnation from travelling public who claimed that the presence of SSS at the ports further slow down passengers processing, especially at the arrival port.
It was, however, gathered that the current situation may not go down well with some of the SSS officials, who hitherto used the opportunity to extort money from the travelling public, most especially foreigners.
Our correspondent noted at the weekend that passengers’ facilitation has improved at the terminal as passengers on Boeing 747 were processed by the immigration personnel at the airport within 30 minutes.
Some of the passengers, who claimed that the facilitation had improved at the terminal, attributed the development to the increased number of immigration check counters.
A passenger, who simply identified himself as Badmus, said that he went through the immigration process under 10 minutes after disembarking from aircraft, while his luggage was reclaimed within 10 minutes.
He lauded the Federal Government and the Ministry of Aviation for the reform.
Badmus, however, urged the government to improve on the cooling system, which he said had not improved over the years.
Another passenger, Mrs. Pelimo Mohammed, agreed that processing of passengers had improved while the bottleneck among security agencies disappeared.
An immigration source, who did not want his name mentioned, said that apart from the increase in the numbers of the counters, the immigration had also embarked on system upgrade, which could decode data of all passengers in seconds.
Source: National Mirror
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