By Ndubuisi Francis, 07.11.2005

The airports are the Murtala Muhammed Airport, Lagos (MMA), Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, Port Harcourt Airport and Mallam Aminu Kano International Airport in Kano.
Umar who was fielding questions from newsmen after his induction as the 8th President of the Alumni Association of the National Institute (AANI) said the fencing in Lagos, Abuja and Kano are on-going. He added that some of them are already nearing completion.
Asked why the airports have been without the perimeter walls, he blamed the situation on paucity of funds and added that apart from the four leading airports, the remaining 18 were not viable and have been sustained mainly from revenue generated from the viable four.
He said that it was impossible to devote funds generated from the viable airports entirely for the provision of infrastructural development of such airports alone.
Umar stated that efforts to have the National Assembly approve annual budgetary proposals for the fencing of the airports had over the years failed. He said the authority was indebted to the tune of N6.8 billion which he said, he has been trying to defray amid daunting challenges of running the 22 airports.
"The problem of fencing is due to paucity of funds. That of Lagos is being done. We've embarked on Kano, about to start that of Enugu, Ibadan and Bauchi. It has not been easy to fence all of them", he said.
The FAAN boss assured that inspite of the paucity of funds, it was the resolve of the Authority to ensure the erection of perimeter fencing at all the international airports before the December 2006 deadline stipulated by the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) for global compliance.
On last week's incident at the Port Harcourt Airport where an Air France airplane collided with cows on the runway, Umar said investigations had commenced while measures have been put in place to avert a recurrence.
He admitted that some of the nation's airports cut across different communities, a situation, he observed, has led to residents criss-crossing the airports to get to each other.
He disclosed that FAAN has already involved traditional rulers and community leaders, through persuasion to prevail on their people to avoid using the airports or allowing animals to venture into such areas.
Umar who justified the directive by Aviation Minister, Mallam Isa Yuguda to shoot-on-sight any animal seen at the airport in Port Harcourt said it was an inevitable measure in view of the recent incident.
He also stated that enough logistics have been deployed to ensure effective monitoring of the airport is guaranteed.