The Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) has been receiving a fair share
of criticism from aviation experts and stakeholders who say that the authority
needs to be strengthened with the right expertise to be able to improve on and
sustain attained air safety in Nigeria.
Some of the criticisms have even touched on the inability of the NCAA to make aviation business a lucrative one in order for the industry to begin to witness the much needed investment and development.
With its enormous potential and the country’s huge population, domestic airliners say that only about one per cent of Nigerians can afford to travel by air, with the industry contributing a laughable 0.4 per cent to the gross domestic product (GDP).
However, experts believe that with better regulation by the NCAA, the industry can begin to witness the expected growth.
The National Association of Pilots and Engineers (NAAPE) recently made its position clear regarding the industry’s expectations from the NCAA when it said last week that for the aviation sector to improve on the safety standard already attained after the last air crash in 2013 the authority needed to employ and deploy experienced safety personnel to carry out inspection of airline operations. The NAAPE noted that currently, the regulatory agency does not have the number of personnel with the attendant requisite experience needed because the salary and other emoluments that it pays cannot attract the qualified and experienced experts needed to ensure the safety of airline operations in Nigeria. Obviously, the NCAA will need to work harder in the area of aircraft inspection.
The president of the NAAPE, Captain Isaac Balami, said that after the crash of Dana Air Flight 092 on June 3, 2012, experts had said the NCAA needed more operations and airworthiness personnel who will inspect and ensure the airworthiness of aircraft. He said operations and airworthiness inspectors should be engineers and pilots that had spent many years working for airlines to gather the needed experience that would qualify them to be aircraft inspectors, adding that the NCAA may not have such experienced personnel because of poor emoluments.
“No matter the academic qualification, anyone who has not worked and spent many years in the sector may not have the needed qualification to become aircraft inspectors. So what we are saying is that the NCAA needs human capacity building. We need to train and grow indigenous captains, those that have put 10 to 20 years working for airlines. These are the people that when they inspect airlines they know what they are looking for and under them no airline will be able to cut corners,” Balami said.
The NAAPE president further noted that the NCAA should urgently improve the condition of service of these inspectors in order to attract the right personnel and also eliminate corruption, adding that one who earns peanuts would be more susceptible to inducement than one who is not under pressure with the basic needs of life.
“Without such improvement in welfare and take home pay it will be difficult for us that have worked with the airlines and earned good salary to work with the NCAA. When you talk about job creation you train people and empower them. It is cheaper to have indigenous personnel than to have expatriates. There is not much training going on except what Bristow, Caverton and Arik Air are doing. I heard the later has sent Nigerians to Germany for training. That is what we need,” he said.
Two weeks ago, a frontline non-government organisation (NGO) in the Nigerian aviation industry, Aviation Round Table (ART), has also traced the current woes in the sector to “a weak NCAA which is not discharging its duties as expected.” The new president of the organisation, Mr Gbenga Olowo, while speaking with aviation journalists in Lagos, called for a stronger NCAA that would drive and develop Nigeria’s dwindling aviation industry.
Olowo explained that apart from the random checks on aircraft at the tarmac, the NCAA had also failed in its economic regulation aspects and not able to meet expectations of investors and other stakeholders in the aviation sector over the years.
He submitted that a stronger, a more viable and an independent NCAA would be able to gather the industry’s airlines together and seek a way of taking them out of their present doldrums, adding that the current domestic operators should be merged to two or maximum three to make them stronger, profitable and more reliable in their operations.
He said, “The NCAA, should be the manager and government of aviation like we have in the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), in the United States, which is the only government agency on transport.
“Our NCAA is not there yet. The zeal of NCAA ended when Dr. Harold Demuren left the agency. Nigerians needs a vibrant NCAA that will be able to take the sector to higher level.
“It is a shame that we do not have any solid airline in this country. When we go outside the country for aviation conferences, people ask us ‘where are your airlines?’ We need a stronger NCAA for us to move forward.”
“The NCAA must sit up and rescue the market for our airlines provided the airlines are ready to shape up,” said Captain John Ojikutu (rtd), general secretary of the ART.
However, as much as the opinion of these stakeholders tend to tally, the NCAA has maintained that it is on top of the affairs of the country’s aviation regulation and driving its course towards the right destination.
The authority’s spokesman, Mr Fan Ndubuoke said the NCAA was working quietly and this had manifested in two years of no flight accidents in the country, with regards to commercial aviation.
“This is a product of good regulation,” he said.
He dismissed the criticisms of the aviation stakeholders, describing them as “unwholesome” insinuations borne out of personal interests. “The International Civil Aviation Organisation(ICAO) was here and we had a healthy result and in November they will be back here again for security audit. Our critics will need to be more specific as to which area they are finding the authority below expectations, but we have to acknowledge the fact that in the last few years, there has been a lot of improvement in our regulations,” he said.
He maintained that the NCAA has the right people with the right experience doing thorough aircraft inspection.
“And the result has been more than two years of accident-free air transport in the country. We are monitoring the airlines very closely in all aspects of their operations as it regards regulations by the NCAA and we have taken the welfare of their workers very seriously with their managements.
“The NCAA is not an infrastructure building agency, but what we do is training and retraining of our staff and this is what we have been doing very diligently and we will keep the tempo. Yes, there is no profession where more personnel cannot be needed, we do have the needed experienced staff and new ones are employed as the old ones leave,” Ndubuoke said
But a senior staff of the authority said it was not out of place if the government could assist the NCAA to attract more experienced and skilled manpower in sufficient numbers.
“This is because that is the requirement by the ICAO, an agency of United Nations on aviation, to do the job. We are forging ahead successfully with what we have, but funding is an issue. For us to attract our kind of staff and be able to retain them means money,” the source said.
source: leadership.ng
Some of the criticisms have even touched on the inability of the NCAA to make aviation business a lucrative one in order for the industry to begin to witness the much needed investment and development.
With its enormous potential and the country’s huge population, domestic airliners say that only about one per cent of Nigerians can afford to travel by air, with the industry contributing a laughable 0.4 per cent to the gross domestic product (GDP).
However, experts believe that with better regulation by the NCAA, the industry can begin to witness the expected growth.
The National Association of Pilots and Engineers (NAAPE) recently made its position clear regarding the industry’s expectations from the NCAA when it said last week that for the aviation sector to improve on the safety standard already attained after the last air crash in 2013 the authority needed to employ and deploy experienced safety personnel to carry out inspection of airline operations. The NAAPE noted that currently, the regulatory agency does not have the number of personnel with the attendant requisite experience needed because the salary and other emoluments that it pays cannot attract the qualified and experienced experts needed to ensure the safety of airline operations in Nigeria. Obviously, the NCAA will need to work harder in the area of aircraft inspection.
The president of the NAAPE, Captain Isaac Balami, said that after the crash of Dana Air Flight 092 on June 3, 2012, experts had said the NCAA needed more operations and airworthiness personnel who will inspect and ensure the airworthiness of aircraft. He said operations and airworthiness inspectors should be engineers and pilots that had spent many years working for airlines to gather the needed experience that would qualify them to be aircraft inspectors, adding that the NCAA may not have such experienced personnel because of poor emoluments.
“No matter the academic qualification, anyone who has not worked and spent many years in the sector may not have the needed qualification to become aircraft inspectors. So what we are saying is that the NCAA needs human capacity building. We need to train and grow indigenous captains, those that have put 10 to 20 years working for airlines. These are the people that when they inspect airlines they know what they are looking for and under them no airline will be able to cut corners,” Balami said.
The NAAPE president further noted that the NCAA should urgently improve the condition of service of these inspectors in order to attract the right personnel and also eliminate corruption, adding that one who earns peanuts would be more susceptible to inducement than one who is not under pressure with the basic needs of life.
“Without such improvement in welfare and take home pay it will be difficult for us that have worked with the airlines and earned good salary to work with the NCAA. When you talk about job creation you train people and empower them. It is cheaper to have indigenous personnel than to have expatriates. There is not much training going on except what Bristow, Caverton and Arik Air are doing. I heard the later has sent Nigerians to Germany for training. That is what we need,” he said.
Two weeks ago, a frontline non-government organisation (NGO) in the Nigerian aviation industry, Aviation Round Table (ART), has also traced the current woes in the sector to “a weak NCAA which is not discharging its duties as expected.” The new president of the organisation, Mr Gbenga Olowo, while speaking with aviation journalists in Lagos, called for a stronger NCAA that would drive and develop Nigeria’s dwindling aviation industry.
Olowo explained that apart from the random checks on aircraft at the tarmac, the NCAA had also failed in its economic regulation aspects and not able to meet expectations of investors and other stakeholders in the aviation sector over the years.
He submitted that a stronger, a more viable and an independent NCAA would be able to gather the industry’s airlines together and seek a way of taking them out of their present doldrums, adding that the current domestic operators should be merged to two or maximum three to make them stronger, profitable and more reliable in their operations.
He said, “The NCAA, should be the manager and government of aviation like we have in the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), in the United States, which is the only government agency on transport.
“Our NCAA is not there yet. The zeal of NCAA ended when Dr. Harold Demuren left the agency. Nigerians needs a vibrant NCAA that will be able to take the sector to higher level.
“It is a shame that we do not have any solid airline in this country. When we go outside the country for aviation conferences, people ask us ‘where are your airlines?’ We need a stronger NCAA for us to move forward.”
“The NCAA must sit up and rescue the market for our airlines provided the airlines are ready to shape up,” said Captain John Ojikutu (rtd), general secretary of the ART.
However, as much as the opinion of these stakeholders tend to tally, the NCAA has maintained that it is on top of the affairs of the country’s aviation regulation and driving its course towards the right destination.
The authority’s spokesman, Mr Fan Ndubuoke said the NCAA was working quietly and this had manifested in two years of no flight accidents in the country, with regards to commercial aviation.
“This is a product of good regulation,” he said.
He dismissed the criticisms of the aviation stakeholders, describing them as “unwholesome” insinuations borne out of personal interests. “The International Civil Aviation Organisation(ICAO) was here and we had a healthy result and in November they will be back here again for security audit. Our critics will need to be more specific as to which area they are finding the authority below expectations, but we have to acknowledge the fact that in the last few years, there has been a lot of improvement in our regulations,” he said.
He maintained that the NCAA has the right people with the right experience doing thorough aircraft inspection.
“And the result has been more than two years of accident-free air transport in the country. We are monitoring the airlines very closely in all aspects of their operations as it regards regulations by the NCAA and we have taken the welfare of their workers very seriously with their managements.
“The NCAA is not an infrastructure building agency, but what we do is training and retraining of our staff and this is what we have been doing very diligently and we will keep the tempo. Yes, there is no profession where more personnel cannot be needed, we do have the needed experienced staff and new ones are employed as the old ones leave,” Ndubuoke said
But a senior staff of the authority said it was not out of place if the government could assist the NCAA to attract more experienced and skilled manpower in sufficient numbers.
“This is because that is the requirement by the ICAO, an agency of United Nations on aviation, to do the job. We are forging ahead successfully with what we have, but funding is an issue. For us to attract our kind of staff and be able to retain them means money,” the source said.
source: leadership.ng
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