Sale Dunoma, managing director of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria, FAAN, said safety and security equipment are to be installed in the 22 airports across the country.

He said this in a message to the Airports council international, ACI, Africa regional assembly that was hosted by Airport company South Africa, ACSA, in Durban recently.

Dunoma explained that FAAN provided an effective platform that led to the successful fight against Ebola in Nigeria by coordinating screening processes. Speaking at the event, Angela Gittens, director general of ACI worldwide said airports should build brand loyalty and provide a service that differentiate them from others to attract air travellers. “Passengers would also like the ambiance, the feel they get when they walk into a terminal, a sense of order and security,” she said.

Pascal Komla, President of ACI Africa, said with the theme; service excellence, the event provided a unique opportunity for airport and aviation executives, experts and exhibitors from across the globe to network, share information and forge a common vision for the future of the African airport business. Ali Tounsi, secretary general of ACI Africa, said there were large divergences across the continent with some very high and low levels of services and standards, partly attributed to different cultures, languages and geographical dimensions. “A big challenge is also the issue of safety with the African continent having the worst safety ranking in the world” he said. With so much happening economically in Africa, in the next few years, airports would play a hugely important role and had to have priority attention,” he said.