Tag: NAMA

The Managing Director of Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA), Captain Fola Akinkuotu,  has called for training of Nigerian pilots on the technologies adopted for airspace management in the country .

According to Akinkuotu, without sufficient training of pilots on new air navigation technology, the huge investment on spaced based technology such as Performance Based Navigation would not achieve the desired results.

Speaking at the Aviation Safety Roundtable Initiative (ASRTI) last week in Lagos, he said the airspace agency would continue to invest in modern air navigation technology in line with global operational standards.

He said the agency was getting worried that many domestic carriers were yet to train their pilots on performance based navigation systems despite the huge commitment of funds into the project.

Akinkuotu said there was need for a match between provision of modern air navigation equipment and user capability.

He said the airspace agency had been grappling with epileptic power supply at airports nationwide, which has forced NAMA to spend millions of Naira on diesel for generators as secondary source of power.

Besides epileptic power supply, Akinkuotu identified porous airports without perimeter fences as part of the challenges affecting aviation infrastructure.

Also speaking, former Rector, Nigerian College of Aviation Technology (NCAT), Captain Samuel Caulcrick,  canvassed the setting up of an Aviation Development Commission to coordinate gaps in the sector.

Such body, Caulcrick said, would serve as an intervention agency to drive the development of the sector.

He said such a body would be useful in addressing formulation of policies that will drive the growth of the industry.

Chairman of the event, Mr Nick Fadugba, canvassed the setting up of a task force to correct anomalies in the sector .

In his presentation, former Director-General of Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), Dr Harold Demuren, said the sector could move forward if government creates an enabling environment to attract private capital for infrastructure development.

To attract private investment, he said there was need for transparency and good corporate governance as well as fidelity to contractual agreements.

Demuren said government should invest in airside airport infrastructure.

Meanwhile, NAMA has put in place a mechanism to look into the lingering issue of harmonising the salaries and allowances of staff under its payroll with those of their colleagues in other agencies in the aviation sector. The Managing Director, Capt. Fola Akinkuotu, who revealed this in a town hall meeting which held at the agency’s headquarters annex in Lagos, said although the issue of harmonisation is as old as the agency itself, there was the need to revisit it as a resolution would boost staff morale and also increase productivity in the long run.

As a first bold step towards achieving harmonisation, Akinkuotu said management had constituted a committee headed by the Director of

Safety Electronics and Engineering Services, Engr. Farouk Umar with “the mandate to look in-depth at the circumstance of harmonisation, cost of harmonisation, our ability to achieve harmonisation, the validity of whether we have been harmonised or not, and then make a report and present to management.”

He disclosed that the committee had already submitted the said report, assuring that management would immediately convene a meeting to “review the report in its totality and examine whether or not there is a disparity. We will also discuss if we can pay for it and if not, how do we move this forward.”

He said, however, that after considering the report, another report will be prepared and presented to government for ratification.

Akinkuotu expressed optimism that even though the harmonisation issue has lingered for over 14 years, management was determined to tackle it headlong, stressing that “if we plug all the loopholes and cut down on some of the waste and be more prudent in our expenditure, we will make a little more money and it really shouldn’t be that difficult attaining harmonization.”

The NAMA chief who urged workers tasked to be more dedicated to their duties, noted that in line with the staff-oriented disposition of his administration, various promotions have been obtained across board.

 

 

The Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA) has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Aireon LLC of United States on exploring the deployment of space-based Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B) system in Nigeria.

In a statement, its Managing Director, Capt. Fola Akinkuotu, said the ADS-B solution, which is a recognised next generation  standard for surveillance and air traffic management, is a critical requirement in preparation for the implementation of the relevant elements of Aviation System Block Upgrades (ASBU).

Signing the MoU at the agency’s headquarters in Lagos last week, Akinkuotu said the ADS-B solution would ensure 100 per cent  real time surveillance coverage of the Nigerian airspace.

NAMA, he said,  was committed to exploring every opportunity and relevant technology to ensure safety of air navigation in the country in compliance with world best practices and regulatory requirements.

In a related development, the Capt. Akinkuotu has described the role of human factors in Air Traffic Management Safety as critical in the process of hazard identification and safety risk management.

Akinkuotu, who was a guest speaker and panelist at the just-concluded Civil Air Navigation Services Organisation (CANSO), Africa Conference and Safety Seminar, in Marrakesh, Morocco, listed the human factors to include environmental, organisational and job factors as well as individual characteristics, adding that they have direct impact on the individual’s behaviour and could affect health and safety.

Delivering a paper  entitled : “Human Factor and Safety,” Akinkuotu, who was represented by NAMA’s Legal Adviser, Mrs. Anastasia Gbem, said the introduction of technology does not primarily aim at improving safety, but  to satisfy  the demands for increase in service delivery. The technology, he said, maintains existing margins of safety.

He said in Air Traffic Management, any technological advancement deployed to improve the system capacity, if not properly interfaced through adequate training and orientation, would lead to operational error.

Akinkuotu said: “These  technologies are introduced to increase ATM capacities,” urging Air Navigation Service Providers (ANSPs) in Africa to continuously review work processes and procedures to further tighten the noose on vulnerability of mismatches in the interfaces between people and technology.

This, he said, has become imperative in order to effectively trap operational errors. He also tasked the executive leadership team to create a “zero-tolerance safety culture” to be embraced by all levels of the organisation.

Meanwhile, NAMA has been praised for its excellence in delivering expeditious air navigation services within the nation’s airspace. This is contained in a letter of commendation to Capt. Akinkuotu by the Airport Manager of Virgin Atlantic Airways, Justin Bell.

Bell said the airline appreciated NAMA’s efficiency in ensuring seamless, smooth and timely movement of aircraft across the Nigerian airspace, adding that  the flight control team in the United Kingdom (UK) appreciated the agency for its excellence in air navigation service provision.

The Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA) is  to entrench a more-effective digital accounting system that will meet the growing demands of the agency.

At a two-day NAMA Accountants Retreat in Lagos, its Managing Director, Capt. Fola Akinkuotu, said the programme was borne out of the agency’s commitment to promoting transparency, accountability and fiscal discipline.

He said it had become imperative to reposition NAMA and its business transactions to comply with the dynamic world of technology, especially in aviation.

Akinkuotu urged the agency’s personnel to embrace technology, as the ease of doing business in the country demanded that they carry out their business electronically.

He said the management would support the finance department in its quest for the best technology that would meet industry best practices and also enhance efficiency in service delivery.

While allaying the fears that automation of business transactions would lead to job losses, the NAMA boss  expressed confidence that the interactive nature of the retreat would give staff the opportunity to use their expertise to brainstorm on challenges in the system .

He said it would also provide the opportunity to devise new initiatives of finding solutions targeted at improving the agency’s procedures, using electronic business.

Earlier in his remarks, the Director of Finance and Accounts, Mr. Aniefiok Umoh, called for the cooperation of staff as the agency transits from the manual system of preparing financial and management information reports to automated processes.

He said: ”Everything in our environment is going electronic; if it is not e-learning, it is e-commerce. If not e-business, then it is e-transaction and NAMA cannot afford to be left behind.”

Also in his remarks, the General Manager, Finance, Mr. David Akpan, said accounting just like any other profession is passing through a dynamic phase and that the role of accountants will continue to undergo a series of changes.

Akpan, who tasked accountants to strive to remain relevant in the emerging e-accounting system, noted however , that those who continue to play by the old rules may lose out in the automation equation.

The 2017 NAMA Accountants Retreat with the theme: “Positioning the e-Accountant for e-Business Transactions” was aimed at finding more efficient ways of revenue generation and collection, developing cost reduction strategies and enhancing financial information reporting through improved technology.

The Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA) has commenced a comprehensive competency appraisal of Aeronautical Information Services (AIS) officers in airports across the country.

The exercise, targeted at testing AIS officers in areas, such as Aeronautical Charts, AIS Publication and Operations, started from the Murtala Mohammed International Airport, Lagos, and is to proceed to other airports in the next few weeks.

NAMA Managing Director Capt. Fola Akinkuotu said: “Considering the pivotal role aeronautical information plays in safety of air navigation, and in the light of ongoing migration to AIS Automation, due consideration must be given to the integrity of data being disseminated to airspace users, hence this exercise.”

He said NAMA placed premium on building workers’ capacity, noting that sustained training and retraining of personnel was being carried out by the agency, to ensure they possessed the competencies to perform critical functions that impact on safety, as well as  for them to keep pace with modern trends.

Also, the AIS General Manager, Mr. Kabir Gusau, noted that the competency check, which would be periodic, was in line with Annex 15 of International Standards and Recommended Practices (SARPs) of the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO), and was necessary to ensure that the workers demonstrate the required competencies to handle specific critical operations.

He said assessment would enable the agency to detect and correct shortfalls as they occur.

In a related development,  Akinkuotu has charged Air Traffic Controllers, who recently returned from a three-week Search and Rescue Mission Coordinator Course in Kenya, to ensure that the training impacted on the overall safety procedures of the agency.

While receiving the participants in his office at the agency’s headquarters in Lagos, the NAMA chief, who promised to approve the training of another batch of Air Traffic Controllers on the same course in November, charged them to improve on the agency’s preparedness to handle emergencies.

The Search and Rescue Mission Coordinator Course, held at the East African School of Aviation, Nairobi, Kenya, is designed to equip participants with the skills to initiate search and rescue and man Rescue Coordination Centres in a Flight Information Region (FIR).