 |
L-R; Managing Director, Nigerian Airspace Management Authority(NAMA), Engr. Ibrahim Abdusalam. Managing Director, Federal Airport Authority (FAAN), Engr. Saleh Dunoma, Director, Research Planning and Statistics, Federal Ministry of Transport, Dr. Ibrahim Idris, Minister of State for Transport, Senator Hadi Sirka, Minister of Transport, Mr. Rotimi Amaechi and Director General, Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), Capt, Muhtar Usman at the Aircraft e- Clearance Solution demo at NCAA Annex MMIA Ikeja
The Nigerian Airspace Management Agency has recorded yet another laudable feat in the aviation industry in Nigeria with the introduction of Aircraft e-Clearance Solution. With this the Minister of Transportation, Rt. Hon. Chibuike Amaechi has lauded the creativity behind the e-Flight Clearance web portal, developed by the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA) in conjunction with the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), as a web based solution to the strenuous system of manually processing aircraft over flight and landing permit by non-scheduled aircraft operators as obtained in the past.
Hon. Amaechi who was
at the NCAA Annex Complex, MMIA Lagos in company of the Minister of State,
Aviation, Hon. Hadi Sirika and other top officials of the ministry for the
demonstration of the e-flight clearance module to stakeholders noted that as a
Governor of Rivers State in the recent past, he personally encountered
challenges trying to process manual flight clearance, the same way other pilots
and airline agents did.
According to the
minister, since the e-Flight Clearance can be processed online from anywhere in
the world, without necessarily going to NAMA or NCAA offices, most of the
delays would be removed from the system. ‘’What this software has done is that
you can now manage your time better and make more money because time is money,”
Amaechi said. He charged the media to be magnanimous in commending government
whenever laudable milestones such as the e-clearance are attained, stressing
that the development has given him and his entourage cause to be happy. He
therefore congratulated the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA) and the
Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) for a job well done.
Also in his remarks, the Director General of NCAA, Capt.
Muhtar Usman noted that the need to deploy technology in improving services
necessitated innovation in the manner flight clearances are conducted, adding
that the electronic clearance system apart from addressing bureaucratic
problems associated with paper work will also “be able to identify all incoming
flights and record them in real time using their tail numbers as well as
recording the time they depart the Nigerian airspace.”
It will be recalled that the need to transit from the manual
process of processing flight clearance to electronic became imperative
following the myriad of challenges that dogged the old system. These included
difficulty in tracing documents, unnecessary bureaucracy leading to waste of
time as well as vulnerability of the system to manipulation to the detriment of
national security.
It was therefore in a bid to mitigate or completely
eradicate the above challenges that Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA),
in collaboration with the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) in 2014
commenced the process of developing the web-based software application as an
alternative to the manual system.
The e-Flight Clearance Solution is a cloud based application
that allows aircraft agents to, remotely, submit application for a clearance
number. Depending on the type of flight operation: overfly or landing. All
overfly operations go to the clearance department of NAMA and the permit number
is issued and broadcasted, then the agent gets the permit number via e-mail and
SMS alert.
However, all landing operations will go to NCAA
for aircraft documents checks and airworthiness status, through the
airworthiness certificate issued in relation to the date of issue, before NAMA
can generate and broadcast the Clearance number.
No comments:
Post a Comment