The Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) has commenced the installation of two 3D body scanner machines at the screening points of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos. The scanner machines (Secure 1000) were delivered to FAAN Wednesday, March 24 and installation started the following day. The Secure 1000 machine is one of the world’s leading Advance Personnel Screening Solution.

It has been deployed and tested at many airports, as well as by law enforcement, Homeland Security of the United States of America and military organizations worldwide. It has been approved for use by multiple regulators, including the US Transportation Security Administration and the United Kingdom Department for Transport. The training of officers to man the equipment will start immediately on completion of installation. ( Continues below…, )



Photo Above: Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos, Nigeria.

The scanner is capable of detecting and revealing substances that could pose security threats, concealed on a person’s body that other screening devices, such as metal detectors, cannot detect. The scanner can even reveal very small quantities of liquid explosives, non-metallic weapons, and plastic explosives that could be inimical to aviation safety.

It will also enhance facilitation of passengers, reduce time spent on screening as well as relieve aviation security officials of the need to do 100 per cent “pat down” of passengers, among other layers of security measures put in place. Such “pat down” will only be done when suspicious items are seen on the image generated after the screening. ( Continues below…, )



Photo Above: A hand-held security metal detector

The new device is expected to boost security operations at the nation’s airports, as it helps to eliminate the threats posed by terrorists and drug carriers. It will help improve the image of the country that nose-dived as a result of the threat of the attempted bombing of a Northwest aircraft by AbdulMutallab, a Nigerian on December 25, 2009. The scanner bounces very low energy x-rays of a person to generate an image. This image is then analyzed by an operator to identify concealed potential threats.

The amount of x-ray energy generated by the scanner is very small, in fact, much less than naturally occurring background radiation, people are exposed to. The National Council on Radiation Protection and Measurement (NCRP) has reported that a traveler would need to experience 100 backscatter scans per year to reach what they classify as a Negligible Individual Dose. The American College of Radiology (ACR) agrees with this conclusion.

By these measurements, a traveler would require more than 1,000 such scans in a year to reach the effective dose equal to one standard chest x-ray