NNRA DISCUSSED SECURITY WAYFORWARD WITH FAAN

NNRA DISCUSSED SECURITY WAYFORWARD WITH FAAN

Nigerian Nuclear Regulatory Authority (NNRA) has continued its training of strategic organizations on countering insider threats which remains a major menace in the nuclear industry worldwide. To this effect, NNRA hosted Officials from the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) at the Authority’s National Nuclear Security Coordination Centre (NNSCC) on the 20^th of June, 2013 in Abuja.

The meeting focused on introducing nuclear security modules to FAAN’s training institutions’ curriculum, and to complement the competence of its personnel.

The DG/CEO, Dr. Yau Idris, at the meeting stated that NNSCC was created to develop a sustainable and effective human resource capacity through the provision and implementation of National Nuclear Security Training Program to meet the requirements of the national nuclear security regime. He further stated that the NNSCC also renders technical and scientific support service to manage and maintain equipment for the prevention, detection of and response to nuclear security events.

‘’NNRA, through NNSCC has collaborated with the academia to develop training materials and syllabi for introductory and intermediate courses on nuclear security and has also developed training materials on radiation detection equipment operation and handling”, he said.

Dr. Yau remarked that building on the existing relationship, NNRA through the NNSCC is desirous to collaborate with FAAN to introduce nuclear security modules at FAAN training institutions to ensure all personnel that passed through the organization at the point of recruitment or during refresher courses acquire basic knowledge of nuclear security. This is to reduce the current challenges of transferring trained officers in the area of nuclear security and replacing them with untrained ones.  

FAAN Team Lead, General Manager Aviation Security and Technical Adviser, Mr. Onoigboria Nathaniel, appreciated the authority for maintaining cordial relationship with FAAN and for the timely invitation for the betterment of the two organizations.

He stated that FAAN has been collaborating with the National Security Agencies to help mitigate the effects of security threats.  He explained that NNRA’s initiative on training sister agencies is in the right direction and FAAN is ready to partner with NNRA for competence and improvement.

He was optimistic that the meeting will afford them a deep understanding of the modules in order to come up with guidelines and approach that will take care of the training at all levels to curb smuggling of radioactive sources through Nigerian airports.

The Coordinator of the National Nuclear Security Coordination Centre (NNSCC) Mr. Adamu Abdul, thanked the representatives of FAAN for honoring NNRA’s invitation and took them on a tour of the various Laboratories at the centre which included the Physical Protection Systems Laboratory, Radiation Detection Equipment Laboratory and Information and Communications Technology Laboratory.