The
Federal Government, through the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria,
has ordered the closure of all bureaux de change offices at the Murtala
Muhammed International Airport, Lagos, and the Nnamdi Azikiwe
International Airport, Abuja.
The development followed the invasion of
BDC offices at the Lagos airport on Wednesday night by a gang of
heavily armed robbers, leading to the killing of two policemen and a
robber.
General Manager, Corporate Affairs,
FAAN, Mr. Yakubu Dati, told reporters that the Managing Director of the
agency, Mr George Uriese, had ordered all the BDC operators at the two
airports to leave with immediate effect.
There are scores of registered and unregistered BDC operators at the Lagos and Abuja airports.
Dati said, “As a remedy the Federal
Airports Authority of Nigeria has banned the activities of bureau de
change from the car park and other car parks at all the airports across
the country.
“The report we are receiving is that it
was the activities of bureaux-de- change that attracted the armed
robbers into the facility and so the Managing Director of the Authority,
Mr. George Uriesi has given an order to evacuate all the bureau de
change.
“We have given them time to come and
pick whatever they have here because at the end of today they will never
enter this car park again. Task force will move in and evacuate them”
The FAAN spokesman also said the
government had beefed up security at the Lagos airport with a
combination of State Anti-Robbery Squad and Aviation Security personnel.
According to him, the development will lead to effective patrol of all the areas of the Lagos airport premises.
Dati, who led reporters around the scene
of the robbery, said the operation was carried several metres away from
the terminal building of the airport.
As at time of inspection, puddles of
blood and three vehicles wrecked by bullets were still seen at the area.
The vehicles included a police van, a Mitsubishi four wheel drive and a
minibus.
The windscreen and the windows of the
police van were shattered by bullets and the scene showed the gravity of
the the Wednesday night’s attack.
Dati, however, said that the agency had swung into action to prevent such incident from happening again.
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