Onyebuchi Ezigbo
18 November 2008
Abuja — United States of America yesterday restated its resolve to assist Nigeria to achieve the required standards in aviation safety and infrastructure.
Speaking at the opening of a workshop on aviation safety and security in Abuja, US Envoy to Nigeria, Mrs Robin Renee Sanders, said the intention of her country is to provide technical support in the area of capacity building, infrastructure, safety, security and the environment.
The workshop, jointly sponsored by the US Federal Aviation Authority (FAA), Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) and the Boeing Company, is part of the campaign by the Nigerian aviation authorities to gain American Category One Certification that will enable airlines to ply the lucrative North American route.
Sanders said several US agencies such as the FAA, Immigration and Naturalisation Service (INS), the Customs Service and Department of Defence and Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), have been deployed to help Nigeria in her quest to meet the Certification one standard as stipulated in the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO).
Minister of Transportation, Mrs Diezani Alison-Madueke, said Nigeria is very serious in her determination to meet requirement of the American Category One certification, which allows airlines registered in the country to operate in the lucrative north American market.
According to her, the Federal Government has successfully executed several aviation projects, among which are new runways at the Lagos and Port Harcourt international airports and building of a new domestic terminal at the Lagos airport through Public-Private-Partenership initiative.
Alison-Madueke lamented the dearth of indigenous manpower in the aviation industry, adding that government is presently embarking on measures to address the capacity gap.NCAA Director-General, Dr Harold Demuren, spoke of efforts by the Agency to improve operations of aviation industry in the country, saying the Agency has embarked on series of capacity-building conferences, to assist in achieving the ICAO standards and integrate the Nigerian aviation industry into the mainstream of world air transport.
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