Regulatory agency explains difficulty in airport recertification
Capt.Musa Nuhu
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The Director General of the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority,Capt.Musa Nuhu has explained why recertification of Lagos and Abuja Airport difficult after the initial certification.
Speaking with aviation journalists in Lagos,Nuhu said that certification of airport is given for three years after which it elapses.
He said that unfortunately, the airport operator for many reasons have challenges and they could not meet the requirements for certification.
“ It is worrisome, but we are working with them and the point you raised, certification of some airports have been going on for longer than necessary, but NCAA cannot give certification when you don’t meet the requirements.”
According to Capt.Nuhu if somebody is applying for Air Operator Certificate (AOC,he must meet the requirements before he can be issued.
The DGCA explained that because of that certification issue, Nigeria lost about 12 points in the just concluded ICAO audit.
“ But I will rather will miss those 12 points than to do certification that doesn’t meet the requirements. Then, ICAO will come and say ‘this certificate you gave is bogus.’ That does more damage to the credibility of the entire system.”
On Kaduna Airport and bad situation,he said there are audits reports on all the airports; which he has to check to know their present situation.
“Some airports have deficiencies that have not been rectified. We will ensure that they are rectified and they meet the minimum standards before they operate.” The issue of Kaduna Airport, he noted is not exactly due to its status,rather are security related between the airport and Kaduna town. “There were security issues between the airport and town and people were really scared. We are all aware of that. Things have improved now and I am sure the state government too is taking measures to ensure they block all these challenges.”
In his further explanations, Nuhu indicated that after this audit, in fact, “we are going to check all the airports; it’s not only the international airport. All the airports in Nigeria, we are going to audit them and see their situations.”
Any airport that has a deficiency, it will be grounded to the level of status they are and that is the way they are,he stated. |
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Speaking on the preparation for the return of ICAO Safety Audit, stated that there is a bit of misunderstanding on the whole ICAO Audit.
“ Nigeria got 70 per cent for a full audit. What we did was a full audit and the last time we had a full audit was in 2016 and after the audit, there is a period of time they will send you their report after 90 days and then, you have 45 days to do something”
.” Another 45 days, then, another 30 days. Then, a total of 210 days from my calculation before ICAO officially notifies us. During that period, you have an opportunity to rectify some of the issues and close the gaps.”
He said that It is almost impossible to go above 70 per cent with ICAO if you have not done your airport certification..
“We have not done our airport certification in Nigeria for the five international airports due to some challenges and difficulties. There is no need for me to sign airport certification when I know our airports do not meet audits and do another full audits, they actually lose points – almost 12 points.”
“ Nigeria gained 4 points between the two audits. That means we are doing well; our standards are not falling. A lot of states do audits, the next full audit, they get high marks, the next full audit everything goes down”
. Believe me, in the next 12 to 18 months when we finish doing our proactive action plan, hopefully, we would have done ceritificaiton of our airports and we would have closed some of the gaps,Capt.Nuhu noted.
