Chinedu Eze
27 August 2008
Johannesburg — Director-General of the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), Dr Harold Demuren, has stated that the N45 billion Bilateral Air Service Agreement (BASA) fund would be used to revamp the obsolete infrastructure in the nation's aviation industry.
Speaking to newsmen in an interview in Johannesburg, South Africa yesterday, at the 14th Aviation and Allied Leadership Conference, Demuren said the fund that was recently placed in the custody of NCAA is far less than what is needed to rehabilitate the facilities in the industry. He however noted that the fund would be used as emergency fund to take care of the pressing infrastructural needs of the sector.
The Director-General expressed worry over the poor communication system in Nigeria's airspace. He said this had been jeopardising safety and had been responsible for several air misses.
He stated that replacing the obsolete communication equipment by the Nigeria Airspace Management Agency (NAMA) has become a big challenge for the aviation industry as huge amount of money is needed to acquire modern equipment for the nation's 21 airports.
Dr. Demuren disclosed that urgent action had to be taken in order to prevent air disaster but noted that NAMA management is on top of the challenge, lamenting that lack of adequate funding had been the bane of the agency.
He also confirmed that the domestic runway at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos would start operation soon, saying the contractor, PW Ltd , had gone back to site and had been given eight weeks to complete work on the project.
He said although there is no airfield lighting at the runway, the runway would be approved for daylight landing, observing that most of domestic operations take place during the day.
The issue of safety dominated discussions at the conference as many speakers lamented how Africa is lagging behind on issues of safety and modernization of airport facilities.International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) Regional Director, Geoffrey Moshabesha, in a goodwill speech noted that the aviation industry has significantly improved but such progress is not reflecting in Africa where aged aircraft and poor airport and navigational facilities made the continent airspace the most unsafe.
To improve safety in Africa, Moshebashe said that ICAO will focus on Africa and adopt ways to improve air transport in the continent so that the region would begin to improve and benefit significantly from the industry.
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