Posted by Sade Williams
Director General, Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), Captain Musa Nuhu has said that Nigeria’s prepared to excel in the forthcoming audit of the sector by the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO).
He said the CAA is not leaving any stone unturned in resolving deficiencies identified through the ICAO Universal Safety Oversight Audit Programme (USOAP) activities in the past.
The ICAO-USOAP, which is conducted every three to four years, focuses on a State’s capability in providing safety oversight by assessing whether the State has implemented the critical elements (CEs) of a safety oversight system effectively and consistently.
Capt. Nuhu, who delivered the keynote address at the 27th edition of the annual conference of the League of Airport and Aviation Correspondents (LAAC) with the theme: “Aviation Industry: Changing Times, Changing Strategies, said: ‘ICAO conducts the audit of every member state about every three or four years and hence would be auditing Nigeria. As you are aware, we are undergoing ICAO Universal Safety Oversight Audit Programme (USOAP)) yet again in August, 2023. We are on top of our duties, leaving nothing to chance in resolving deficiencies identified through the ICAO USOAP activities.
“We are positive as our preparations are in top gear for the forthcoming audits. We are prime to excel again as Nigeria has a lot riding on the modest credentials of existing regime of robust regulations and almost-a-decade of zero accident in schedule flight operation.”, he said.
While praising industry players for not resting on their oars despite harsh operating environment, he also spoke of some achievements recorded by the industry, despite huge challenges.
“While I cannot stand here and declare that there are no challenges we are faced with. I cannot agree less that the sector is beset with myriads of surmountable challenges. However, challenges bring opportunities. The cynics have once expressed views that growth in the aviation sector could only double after 15 years but the reverse in the case. Rather we are seeing steady growth in the domestic sector with more airlines processing their Air Operator Certificates (AOCs) and the rate of connections among cities increasing. We are witnessing Nigerian airlines embarking on aggressive, but strategic expansion in regional connectivity and route strength as well.
“In spite of the numerous challenges, Nigeria’s air transport is making progress. The International Air Transportation Association (IATA) in a recent study recognized that the Nigeria air transportation sector has contributed over $1.7 billion in addition to provision of well over 240,00 jobs. As our traffic figures doubling so is the number of young airports increasing with the old ones embarking on massive infrastructure upgrade, expansion and equipment modernization for safety, security, safe air navigation, weather observation and forecasting.
“Following the approval granted by the Federal Government, Aviation Security (AVSEC) personnel of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) has been licensed to bear light weapons like their counterparts in some European nations to enhance safety and boost their confidence to go to delicate areas at airports across the country. FAAN Training Centre was designated as ICAO Aviation Security Training Centre of Excellence while Nigerian College of Aviation Technology (NCAT) received Regional Training Centre of Excellence (RTCE). In addition, we have witnessed transformation of Accident Investigation Bureau (AIB) to a multi-modal Nigerian Safety Investigation Bureau (NSIB) with wider coverage; to determine the probable causes of accidents and serious incident occurrences in rail, maritime and aviation.”, he said.
The regulatory authority boss also charged airlines to use equipment that suits their business models while calling for merger and alliances for efficiency and sustainability.
“While operators should choose the aircraft that best suits their business plan as choice of decrepit and wrong aircraft-type for flight operations could be greatest undoing of an airline. For a fact, global airline industry is one of the most competitive industries. Therefore, to effectively tap into its huge market opportunity, cooperative behaviour and alliances among airlines became inevitable as it is prevalent in other climes. In actual fact, the first large alliance began in 1989 with large-scale code sharing between Northwest Airlines and KLM. As of now, there are three (3) global airline alliances operating in the air travel industry, namely: Star Alliance, SkyTeam, and Oneworld. Members of SkyTeam are Air France-KLM, Delta Virgin Atlantic; Under Oneworld we have American Airlines, British Airways and Iberia; and under Star Alliance, which is world’s largest global airline alliance, we have United Airlines, Air Canada and Lufthansa.
” Taking a cue from legendary global alliances, sometime in 2022, there was also a revolutionary initiative in the industry when about six of our operators signed a pact tagged the ‘Spring Alliance’ to mutually support one another’s operations and improve service delivery for the mutual benefit of the passengers and the airlines alike. Even though the ‘Spring Alliance’ was Nigerian initiative, there is window for other like-minded airlines around the world to key into the scheme. Efficiency is the barometer for success in the industry as airlines’ On-Time-Performance (OTP) is an indispensable condition. Without any iota of doubt, such landmark passenger-centric initiative will bring about sustainability and stability of airlines operations in terms of connectivity, low capacity and enhancement of seamless facilitation, thereby preventing flight delays and cancellations.
“Even though the phenomenon of delays is global, we are poised to minimize the number of delays to the simplest minimum. Synergy, collaboration, cooperation or merger is the rule of the game. I want to encourage Nigerian airlines to avoid I-want-to-do-it-alone as reflected in their lone-wolf operational tactic. While I want to appreciate our operators for a job well done in terms of the spirit and the impact, we urge airlines to partner with their willing foreign counterparts through code sharing in developing Nigeria’s aviation industry.”, he added.
