Edo State Government has
secured admission in one of the
state’s top secondary schools for
13-year-old Daniel Oikhena, who
stowed away in the wheel well of
an Arik Aircraft from Benin to
Lagos on Saturday August 24,
this year.
This was made known in a
statement signed by Peter
Okhiria, CPS to Edo State
Governor Comrade Adams
Oshiomhole the statement
said Oshiomhole made this
disclosure during the visit of Mr
George Uriesi, Managing Director,
Federal Airports Authority of
Nigeria (FAAN) and other FAAN
Management team to him at the
Government House, Benin City,
yesterday..
According to the Governor,
“without meaning to encourage
anyone else, we decided to
support him by sending him to
one of the top secondary schools
in Edo State that is owned by the
Government. The reason for
opting for a boarding school is
that we think that there need to
closely watch him which his
parents could not do.
“He is an intelligent young man
with uncommon challenges, but
one that has a vision. We had
him examined by people who
should know and the result
confirmed that he is normal”,
Oshiomhole noted.
“This incident was probably the
kind of trigger that we needed to
improve the facilities at our
Airports. You are never going to
have all the money you need to
do all you have to do. You should
start from somewhere”, he
noted.
Oshiomhole added “it is also a
security issue that we do not
have any runway security lights
at the Benin Airport. It is a
security issue because a plane
can take off and it is flying to
Benin airspace and it has
mechanical faults and it cannot
land.
“Politically, there could be an
emergency in Edo State and the
President needed to visit and he
cannot land at the airport at
night. You cannot spend the kind
of money you are spending on
remodeling and the little one you
have to do is to ice the cake and
you have a complete project. You
should take this as something
more urgent”, he added.
Earlier, Mr Uriesi said they were
in Benin City for ground
assessment of the stowaway
incident which has forced FAAN
to review and improve on its
security arrangements.
He said: “we are responding to
the incident of the stowaway of
that young boy a few weeks ago
which was a big surprise to all of
us.
“We want to inform you that we
have taken strenuous measures
to ensure that a similar incident
does not happen. It was serious
and miraculous event, because
prior to that day, I would have
told you it was a death sentence.
We are trying to create an
awareness that this is a death
sentence and young people
should not attempt it at all. The
likelihood of survival is slim.”
On the security arreangements
put in place to check a
recurrence, Uriesi said FAAN
plans to acquire security vehicles
on take-off and arrival of planes
and that security teams made up
of the Air force and airport
security will now patrol the
airports.
He said “one of the negative
things we inherited was that the
airports were not fenced, or
some of them were fenced at the
beginning and the fences have
fallen apart.
“We have a plan to fence the
airport and it is an onerous task.
The smallest airport perimeter
fence in the country is fourteen
kilometers and the biggest one is
about 33 kilometers. Altogether
it is about 500 kilometers. It is a
huge capital outlay. We need to
secure the airports.
“We also wish to enlighten the
youths that they should not try it.
This boy is a miracle boy”, he
noted.