The  Total Radar Coverage of Nigeria(TRACON) is working,the entire Nigerian airspace is safe for twenty four hours non stop.

Acting Managing Managing Director of the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency(NAMA) Mr.Matthew Lawrence Pwyjok stated this while interacting with aviation journalists in Lagos.

He said the radar system is functioning uptimally and can be verified at the Murtala Muhammed Airport in Lagos where one can see the radar antenna rotating seamlessly.

Pwyjok explained:”the antenna rotates 24/7,365 days every year  If the radar is down the pilots would know as they will go procedural and approach is longer.”.

“ I can tell you that with Total Radar Coverage of Nigeria(TRACON) , we can see aircraft over Accra, we can see aircraft over Cotonou; over Lome, we see aircraft over Naimey, we see aircraft over N’djamena, we see aircraft over Douala, over Yaoundé; we see aircraft over Equatorial Guinea, Malabo, it is a total radar and it is functional.”

“So when we (NAMA tell you that TRACON is working,believe us.There is significant improvement in our air traffic control.If,the radar is down,the pilots,those flying within Nigeria and those overflying our airspace will know.It is not something one can hide.

• He said that NAMA,since 2014,has saved Nigeria millions of dollars which would have been expended in service agreement with the manufacturer of the radar.
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• According to him,the indigenous engineers and the air traffic controllers from the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency,in their patriotic zeal took up the challenge to get the system functioning uptimally without foreign input.
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• ” I am sure Thales(Manufacturers of the TRACON) never believed we would keep the system functional without them.”
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• “ we were paying millions of Euros to support the services agreement but that has been saved, so a lot of money has been saved in the form of maintenance in-house,”the acting Managing Director said.

Speaking further,the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency boss told news men  that   the N23bn approved by the Federal Executive Council ((FEC) in February 2022 for the upgrade of the Total Radar Coverage of Nigeria  (TRACON) would encompass hardware and software upgrade as well as  migration from EUROCAT system to a higher TopSky radar system.

 N5bn out of the amount is for the V-SAT which connects the nine radars covering Nigeria and overlapping to neighboring countries.

The nine standalone radars connected by V-SAT,according to Pwyjok are in Lagos, Kano, Abuja, Port Harcourt, Maiduguri, Ilorin, Talata-Mafara, Obubra and Numan.