AVIATION AGENCIES SET FOR CAT
1 RE-CERT
By Yakubu Dati
In a short while, it would be
time for Nigeria to defend her category one status in the global world of
aviation safety. Four years ago,(in 2010) the country was first awarded the
much coveted category one status by the International Civil Aviation
Organization, ICAO after an audit of the worthiness of her airspace.
Interestingly, this next audit would come at a time when a Nigerian—Dr Bernard
Aliu—is the new president of the governing board of ICAO.
But rather than conferring
any privileges or special status on the country, it could mean that Nigeria may
actually be under the very glare of the global aviation safety watchdog.
Nonetheless in the past three
years, the Nigerian Aviation industry has witnessed a dramatic transformation
that has put the aviation agencies at ease in terms the country’s readiness to retain her
category one status. Indeed, within the space of three years after this
certification, the various parastatals under the Ministry of Aviation have
attained significant milestones.
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| Yakubu Dati |
These include the Federal
Airports Authority, FAAN, Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority,NCAA;Nigerian
Airspace Management Authority, NAMA;The Accident Investigation and Prevention
Bureau,AIPB; Nigerian Meteorological Agency, NIMET and the Nigerian College of
Aviation Technology, NCAT.
In an unprecedented and
radical move, the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria ,FAAN embarked on a
re-modelling programme to upgrade and
repair 22 dilapidated airport terminals scattered around the country and so far, over 12 of these airport terminals
have been completely re-modelled, while work is in top gear at the remaining
terminals. The construction of four brand new state-of-the-art, international
airport terminals in Lagos, Kano, Kaduna and Port Harcourt has already
commenced after President Goodluck Jonathan led administration signed a
bilateral agreement worth $4 billion for their constructions with the Chinese
government last July.
Apart from these which would
vastly raise the level of passenger' s comfort and cargo handling capacity at
the airports, within this period of time, FAAN has made itself fully compliant
with ICAO standards for firefighting and rescue operations.
Before July 2011, there were
only 20 fire tenders available, but now, FAAN has at least 46 fire tenders. In
addition, 450 brand new kits, (equipment as well as personal protective
clothing) have been provided for firemen
and women. This has been done to enable firemen efficiently carry out their
duties in securing and safeguarding the airport terminals and the lives of
passengers and workers.
To beef up its
counter-terrorism capacity, FAAN procured and deployed hi-tech, 3-in-1
(liquids, metals and explosive detection) screening equipment at all FAAN
controlled airports round the country. These equipment have been fully
installed and are functional at the Murtala Muhammed international Airport
Lagos and the Nnamdi Azikwe International Airport, Abuja while those for other
airports are at different stages of completion.
A key component of the
Infrastructure improvement programme for the various airports is the
procurement and installation of more passenger handling equipment and support
systems which include luggage screening and handling conveyor systems, air
conditioning, standby power systems, baggage belt systems, lifts, escalators
and travelators.
The new Air Traffic
Management system under the TRACON project undertaken by the Nigerian Aerospace
Management Authority, NAMA has made significant progress in putting in place
radar and other navigational guidance systems that addressed the gaps in the
country’s air navigational coverage.
As a matter-of -fact, the
TRACON project has been completed with approach radar control in Lagos, Kano,
Abuja and Port-Harcourt ,while Area Radar coverage has started in Lagos and
Kano ACCs. Whereas, solar power for control tower navigational aids that helps
ensure round-the –clock coverage which was unavailable for a long time has been
successfully deployed. The country now has 6 functional, sophisticated
navigational aids and 11 well equipped control towers to its credit.
All this means that
embarrassing snide remarks about Nigeria as one huge ‘black hole’ in terms of
air traffic control, is now a thing of the past.
Last year,with TRACON in
place, Nigerian Aviation sector was able to record a major milestone in search
and rescue operations. In these situations, realtime radar playback provided by
TRACON proved invaluable. The redesigning of the airspace to be WGS-84
compliant is one of the steps taken by the country to meet ICAO’s standard and
transit to performance Based Navigation (PBN)
Since the 2010 CAT 1 certification,
the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) has made substantial investment in
equipment to improve its aviation oversight functions. It has deployed a
sophisticated flight tracking system, and an Automated Flight Information
Reporting System (AFIRS) which was
previously unavailable in the country.
Another pertinent milestone
is the IOSA certification and interlining which had never been done in Nigeria.
Two local airlines have been successfully certified under this programme and
the exercise is currently on going.
Working along with TRACON and
its own recently installed state-of-the art equipment, the country’s Accident Investigation and Prevention Bureau,
AIPB is now able to quickly download, extract, decode and analyse the aircraft
accident data from the CVR and FDR (Black Boxes) thus saving time and money.
This capacity has sped up the investigation process and upgraded our aircraft
accident investigation process.
Even the once neglected
aviation training school at Zaria, Nigerian College of Aviation Technology,
NCAT was not left out of the transformation agenda of this administration. It
has been upgraded and well-equipped in order to fulfill its mandate of
producing world class skilled manpower for the country’s aviation industry.
Aside from the structural and
management changes at the school,government has also purchased training
equipment which include the EADS SOCATA TBM 850 single engine turbo prop
trainer aircraft, two No Bell 2061-iv helicopters and Gas Turbine Trainers which
were unavailable before 2013 for the institution -- for the first time ever. An
ARTMACS Pc-Based Radar Simulator and an Auto pilot Training station have also
been procured and installed in the institution.
All these milestones which
point the way forward for Nigerian Aviation can be attributed to the bold,
imaginative and well articulated Aviation master plan which was initiated and
boldly implemented in the last three years under the leadership of the former
Aviation minister, Princess Stella Oduah.This has seen Nigerian Aviation leap
forward in rapid bursts over the past three years.
And based on the foregoing, the Aviation
Ministry and its parastatals can confidently look forward to the forthcoming
recertification audit for Category 1 status by ICAO. There is no doubt that we
have made significant progress in the past three years which should more than
earn us the coveted re-certification. And of course, the reform is far from
being over.
Yakubu Dati
Aviation Spokesman
