NCAA TO COMMENCE AUDIT OF ALL AIRPORTS IN THE COUNTRY 15-10-23
By Sadiq Aminu The Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority, NCAA, is to commence the audit of all airports, both local and International in the country.
The Director General, DGCA, Captain Musa Nuhu in a chat with aviation correspondents in Lagos said, this was to ensure they meet the minimum standards to operate in a safe, secured manner.
Currently, 28 local and five International airports are managed by the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria, FAAN, while few are managed by different state governments.
The Director General, Civil Aviation, Captain Musa Nuhu said, some of these airports have deficiencies in the areas of safety, security and comfort.
According to him, with the audit soon to commence by the regulatory authority, it would be able to ascertain their current status and any that falls below standards would be given the status they deserved.
“Any airport that has a deficiency, it will be grounded to the level of status they are and that is the way they are”.
On the Lagos and Abuja international airports yet to be recertified after three years the previous certification expired, Captain Nuhu said, the airport operator, that is FAAN is yet to meet the requirements for recertification due to some challenges.
He disclosed that, due to the failure of the recertification of these two airports, Nigeria lost 12 points in the just concluded International Civil Aviation Organization, ICAO, Universal Safety Oversight Audit Programme, USOAP.
“I will rather we 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”.
The NCAA boss also cleared the air on the suspension of the Air Operators Certificate, AOC, of Omni blu airline over alleged conflict of interest saying, the process was halted to carryout an investigation regarding one the alleged shareholders, the current Director General, Nigeria Safety Investigation Bureau, NSIB, Mr. Akin Olateru.
Captain Nuhu noted that, investigation carried out by the NCAA had revealed that, Mr. Olateru had since resigned from the airline and all necessary documents and declaration have showed this.
“In an industry that you are a CEO or a staff, you cannot have an interest, but there are procedures and he has given proof for those procedures; he has showed us that he actually resigned and that letter is actually confirmed by the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC)”.