Kenneth Ehigiator/Luka Binniyat
13 May 2008
US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), has again pledged its assistance to the Federal Government in its effort to achieve Category One certification for the nation's aviation industry, especially as the certification would pave way for Nigerian airlines to operate direct flight services to the United States.
This is coming at a time the Director-General of the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), Dr. Harold Demuren, said Nigeria was contributing N120 million ($1 million) to the realisation of the new Comprehensive Regional Implementation Plan for Aviation Safety in Africa known as the (AFI Plan) which was adopted in Banjul, The Gambia, last year.
FAA Senior Representative for Africa, Ms. Morean Keane, who disclosed this in an interview with Vanguard at ICAO Air Transport Symposium in Abuja, said the agency was impressed by the commitment of all stakeholders in the industry to bring about positive changes and was, therefore, ready to assist the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) to achieve Category One certification, the absence of which had stopped Nigerian carriers from impressed by the commitment of all stakeholders in the industry to bring about positive changes and was, therefore, ready to assist the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) to
achieve Category One certification, the absence of which had stopped Nigerian carriers from flying into U.S. destinations. According to her, the FAA will continue to give the NCAA technical assistance in Nigeria's pursuit for the certification.Keane said: " I think everyone sees a great deal of progress and a great deal of attitudes amongst all the professionals to really turn things around and to improve conditions through out the entire aviation system and you see that from the airlines; you see that from government officials and industry business officials.
"We have a technical assistant team that has been assisting for some time and they will continue to come in. They will assist in augmenting records or providing additional data and inspector for training. It's a technical-to-technical co-ordination."
She said the FAA was concentrating more on human capacity development because of obvious inadequacies in that area, stressing that whenever there was equipment break- down,it was human capacity that was needed to put it right.
"We will also be focusing on human capacity building because we think those are the areas we see most successes. Other things, such as equipment, may at times breakdown, but if you train people, they can fix things later on.
"So, if we focus on improving people's knowledge of aviation, that's where we believe we get most of our dollars spent," said Keane. Meanwhile, the Federal Government has invested $1 million towards the realisation of the Comprehensive Regional Implementation Plan for aviation safety in Africa (AFI Plan).
The AFI plan, which is believed to be the most comprehensive strategy to improving aviation safety in Africa, was endorsed on September 17 by representatives of 40 African states and world aviation stakeholders during a high-level meeting held at the International Civil Aviation Organisation's regional office in The Gambia,on the eve of the 36th Session of ICAO's Assembly in September, 2007.
Dr. Demuren, who disclosed this at the 1ast International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) Air Transport Symposium held in Abuja, said the investment was necessary in view of Africa's average accident rate of 1.5 accident per every one million flight against the global
average of 1.0. According to him, with only a share of about 2% of the global aviation business, Africa needs to plough in more resources in developing its aviation sector, especially on air-safety.
"Customers have a right to be concerned about their safety and security as we embrace liberalisation and deregulation. As we continue to liberalise the industry, safety is not de-regulated, instead, higher safety standards and more stringent regulatory requirements are imposed.
"A country as small as Trinidad and Tobago is expanding its aviation sector with $4 billion,Pakistan is investing $10 billion building on its aviation infrastructure and Turkey is putting in $40 billion. That is the kind of money that some countries are putting down to modernise and expand their aviation infrastructure all to enhance safety," Demuren noted and said that the N120 million from Nigeria was just its contribution to the AFI Plan initiative.
To show its support
Hashem, who is also the Chairman, Committee on Transportation for ICAO, said that Africa has a huge potential in the global aviation market and advised that it taps into its regional power by cooperating in improving on aviation amenities that drive the sector in other parts of the world.
The Minister of State for Air Transportation, Mr. Felix Hyatt in his speech said that since the coming of democracy, the Nigerian aviation industry has had positive deregulation of the sector.
According to him, there were less than a score in the number of aircraft in the Nigerian Aviation sector before 1999, but enthused that there are now well around 100 of them.
"A Nigerian Operator has signed for delivery of Boeing 777s and 787 Dreamliner, while the Nigerian operator has received clearance from the US Department of Transport to commence flights directly to the USA from Lagos," he said, but declined to elaborate on the development.
On his part, the President of ICAO, Mr. Roberto Kabeh Gonzalez said the AFI Plan was created and endorsed by ICAO by the African Aviation Community and all major world organisations, describing AFI as Africa's plan that goes right to the root of the problem.
According to him, ICAO has established a highly representative steering committee composed of nine states, including five from Africa, the African Union, the African Civil Aviation Commission, the African Development Bank, the European Union and the World Bank.
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