Nigeria’s Federal Executive Council has approved over N10 billion contract for the provision of Airport Management Solutions for the country’s international airports in Abuja, Lagos, Kano, Port Harcourt and Enugu.
The approval was given at Wednesday’s Cabinet meeting presided over by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo.
The Minister of Aviation, Hadi Sirika, who briefed State House correspondents after the meeting, said the contract was awarded to Messrs. Arlington Security Nigeria Ltd with a timeline of 12 months.
Sirika said the system would facilitate common use of terminal equipment, which are systems that are required for sharing airport resources in accordance with IATA Recommendation 1797.
“This allows flexible sharing of resources for check-in and boarding, such as servers, work stations, associated peripherals between airlines and handling agencies present at the airport,” he stated.
Baggage Drop
According to Sirika, the system will also provide for baggage drop, which makes it faster and quicker for passenger processing.
“Another service to be provided is local departure control systems. This is aimed at airlines that are still using manual procedures like locals, domestic and charter etc.
“The system secures and accelerates these operations while ensuring better service for passengers.
“The system also accepts mobile phone boarding pass or home-printed boarding pass, which we didn’t have before.”
The Minister also spoke about the baggage reconciliation system, which enables the tracking of baggage from the time passengers arrive and drop and drop their baggage.
“Automatically, it goes into the system and then go into the aircraft itself.
“So, this will eliminate the issue of missing baggage or mix-up of baggage to arrive at another location not intended.”
E-Gates
Sirika said that the system would also provide for E-gates that will be electronically operated.
“This is access control to restrict only passengers and staff to have access to designated areas.
“The E-gate provides platform to monitor and control to the boarding area.
“In other words, if you come to a self-check-in desk, or you check online or your mobile phone or at home, you can simply come and swipe.”
He explained that it is new and had not been part of the system provided in Lagos and Abuja before now.
“Then, the airport information management system is designed to meet all the operational needs of airports in terms of flight management with the latest upgrade.
“The new system database for several months forward and can be modified accordingly. This is compatible to IATA and the entire connection model.”
According to the Minister, there will also be a new billing system, “A software suit entirely dedicated to airport billing.”
He said it is a secure system with unlimited settings that automate all invoicing of operations, including aeronautical services and fees.
PIAK
