Tag: Nigeria

• By Wole Shadare

The state of Nigerian airspace infrastructure has raised a lot of concerns among aviation stakeholders. It wasn’t as if the country’s airspace was unsafe, so many issues like inadequate navigation equipment, and poor radio communication among others raise concerns about how difficult pilots communicate with air traffic controllers.

For several years, most of the navigational facilities were obsolete and grossly inadequate and posed serious dangers to air travel. Pilots expressed displeasure and were visibly angry over poor navigational aids at most airports. Aerodromes suffered from long periods of neglect, poor planning, and wanton corruption that left the sector in a precarious situation.

Pilots recalled their experiences any time they flew within the country’s airspace. They found it very difficult at a point to establish communication with the control tower because of the lack of effective radio communication coverage.

 The poor state of the controller/pilot VHF communication coverage of the country’s airspace was glaring. Users were piqued that if navigational aids could work in such places as Togo, Ghana, and Sao Tome, they wondered why the same equipment couldn’t work in Nigeria.

The careful planning by the Ministry of Aviation and National Aerospace Management Agency, NAMA to change the narrative of bad news as it affects the country’s airspace safety had seen a massive investment of over N32 billion and another $12.9 million to overhaul the airspace architecture by the last administration. While so much was achieved, there are so many investments NAMA is expected to carry out to reposition Nigeria’s airspace infrastructure and make it safer.

While taking note of the complaints of the umbrella body of air traffic controllers, the National Air Traffic Controllers Association (NATCA), NAMA has itemised the several ongoing and completed projects across the country’s airports aimed at safety, efficiency, capacity, and environment.

Among these are the surface movement radar and ground control systems at Lagos and Abuja completed in the first quarter of 2022; the deployment of three-dimensional virtual tower simulators in Lagos completed by December 2021.

The process of tackling the rot in NAMA of many years started slowly about a few years ago. The remarkable work of past chief executive officers particularly, Capt Fola Akinkuotu and Mathew Lawrence Pwajok is worth mentioning.

At NAMA, the agency made some strides. In the area of communication, the agency had a few challenges. Over time the airspace is increasing because of growth in traffic and the air routes are many and they cut across the nation because there are more connections between various airports, as new airports are coming up.

In response to this, NAMA is deploying a very high-frequency system to enhance extended coverage communication, from bandwidth to bandwidth to enhance the safety of air navigation.  That is the project that will enhance communication between pilots and air traffic controllers, which is voice communication from air-to-ground.

For exchange of flight, an aircraft departs and there is the need to inform the airport where the aircraft is going for them to also prepare and expect the airplane.

There are more digital means of sending this information, which are referred to as data links, that is what the agency is working on to get funding to be able to provide not just voice communication but also data links that can provide an accurate and more express exchange of sensitive information and flight movements.

The incumbent Managing Director of NAMA Engr. Umar Ahmed Farouk has carried on seamlessly and breaking new ground with the planned provision of modern and seamless navigation safety tools.  All the hiccups are expected to be tackled as the federal government has acceded to the request of the agency to overhaul and modernise the communication architecture of the country’s airspace.

The Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo, in February this year disclosed that he had received approval of N40 billion to procure and upgrade navigational equipment nationwide. He stated the dearth of facilities led him to request urgent intervention from the president to acquire safety critical equipment.

The newly appointed managing director of NAMA, Farouk has decided to take pre-emptive steps to upgrade most of the equipment. Farouk, who had been the most senior director in the agency before he was appointed substantive Managing Director has been working tirelessly to re-position NAMA to meet global standards.

The Minister, Farouk and his team are working to upgrade our Total Radar Coverage of Nigeria (TRACON) after Keyamo visited France, the country of the installer of TRACON.

Aside from that, the federal government is also procuring landing equipment and navigation equipment and upgrading the ones in existence including the procurement of modern ILS for the five international airports in Lagos, Abuja, Kano, Port-Harcourt and Enugu.

There is also the Doppler Very High Omni-directional Range (DVOR) equipment that guides aircraft in very difficult circumstances. Even in hazy weather, they guide aircraft in their approach and landing.

The government is equally in the process of acquiring the equipment as one of the bold steps taken by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration to upgrade many of the country’s obsolete airspace infrastructures.

The agency has been grappling with the Total Radar Coverage of Nigeria (TRACON) coupled with intractable communication challenges in Nigeria’s airspace which became inefficient over the years because some of the parts had become outmoded.

Farouk has vowed that the myriads of problems plaguing communication between pilots and controllers would soon be a thing of the past. He promised to immediately fix the communication problem and also declared an emergency in power supply, as NAMA’s installations are expected to provide 24-hour service to ensure that aircraft fly safely in Nigeria’s airspace.

The airspace agency spends a humongous amount of its revenues on diesel to power its generators and recently considered investing in solar systems.

The communication architecture of Nigerian airspace is now broadened, addressing issues that were prevalent before as there are processes to ensure seamless communication between pilots and air traffic controllers.

Over time navigation has always relied on ground-based navigational aids. However, with the advent of satellite navigation adopted by the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) GNSS, the scenario began to change.

Due to errors inherent in the GPS constellations, the raw navigation signal from the satellites was not accurate enough to provide precision approaches.

The satellite errors were due to various factors, including SA (selective availability) which was a deliberate introduction of errors to downgrade the quality of signals.

However, with the removal of the SA errors, there was a significant improvement in the accuracy of the satellite guidance signals.

This nonetheless, could not meet the requirements for precision approaches. To further improve the accuracies of the navigational satellite signals several measures were adopted, such as Satellite Based Augmentation Systems (SBAS) and Ground Based Augmentation Systems (GBAS), which are ways of detecting and correcting satellite errors by comparison of received satellite signals from a known reference point and computing the errors.

Speaking on the application of SBAS for approach navigation in Nigeria, Farouk noted that the use of satellites for navigation (GNSS) is not new in Nigeria as they have implemented RNAV approaches using satellite signals.

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However, these approaches he said are non-precision approaches as the accuracies do not meet up to precision categories, hinting that the RNAV provides only lateral guidance with no vertical guidance signals. It then still means that the ground-based navigational aids provide better accuracies.

The country’s ground-based instrument landing systems provide navigation guidance from Category I to Category III approaches, which mean airport or traffic capacities are still better with the existing ground-based instrument landing system during bad weather.

 However, the cost of acquisition and maintenance of ground-based navigational aids is high and therefore, alternative means of navigation that are cost-effective is a welcome development.

The traditional ground-based instrument landing systems have been the sole means of instrument approaches before now. It is expected that the SBAS (LPV) when implemented will be available for use in addition to the existing ground-based navigational aids and the already applicable RNAV. The choice of which to use will be at the discretion of the airspace users.

While there is a remarkable improvement in air traffic management in the country with installed facilities, however, the agency is urged not to rest on its oars to ensure that there is consistent improvement in the country’s airspace surveillance.

•Shadare, Aviation and Travel journalist writes from Lagos.

• By Olabode Lucas

Franklin D. Roosevelt, one of the three greatest presidents of the United States of America became the president of his country in 1933 at the height of the great depression. The great depression which raged between 1929 and 1939 caused a severe economic downturn that blighted and laid prostrate many countries in the world. In the USA, the depression led to decline in stock prices which resulted in a period of economic dislocation characterized by high unemployment and colossal business failures. It was a grim period for citizens of the USA.

On taking over power, Franklin Roosevelt popularly called FDR, first instilled confidence in his people by telling them in his inauguration speech, that they had nothing to fear but fear itself. Between 1933 and 1939, President Roosevelt enacted what was popularly called the New Deal which was a series of programmes that included public work projects, financial reforms and regulations. The New Deal provided support for farmers, the unemployed youths and the elderly.

The legacy of Franklin Roosevelt will always remain evergreen in the history of the USA. He brought the USA through the great depression and made the country a prosperous one which had dominated the world since World War II, a war he led the Allied power to win over Nazi Germany led by Adolf Hitler.

No two countries are the same and I think the situations in the world at the time of Franklin Roosevelt were pole apart from the present situation in the world, but one can say with some certainty that the present situation faced by President Bola Tinubu is not very much different from what Roosevelt faced in 1933 in the USA. On taking over the rein of government, President Tinubu met a battered and mangled economy, high rate of unemployment, high inflation rate, insecurity, unbridled corruption at high and low places, low wages, humungous debt profile in which we use 96% of our revenue to service, searing high cost of food and other essentials and general disillusionment and hopelessness among the people.

In fact, he met a country which is still the poverty capital of the world where 64% of the people live below poverty line. For any impartial observer, Nigeria had never had it so bad as the previous administration before Tinubu has put us in the gutters economically. There is now the fear that if nothing concrete is done to improve our economy, Nigeria may tread the same path as Venezuela and Zimbabwe.

On taking over in May 2023 with his Renewed Hope Agenda, Tinubu’s body language depicted what Sir Winston Churchill of Britain told his country men and women during the Second World War, that he had nothing to offer to them but blood, toil, tear and sweat. In his inaugural speech, Tinubu unilaterally removed the fuel subsidy which had been riddled with unbridled corruption, embezzlement and criminal opacity for many years with attendant humungous drain on our resources. This singular act caused seismic economic rumpus in the country.  Costs of petrol, transportation, food and other essentials went up astronomically. Many people including top economists thought the action was too hasty with little or no plan formulated to cushion the deleterious effect of the removal on the common people. Some felt that the removal should have been gradual. A sizeable informed opinion in the country however, felt that the move was a courageous one which was a necessary bitter pill to take us out of our self-imposed economic ailment. The jury is still out on what would eventually be the effect of removal of petrol subsidy on the well-being of the people. However, one salutary effect of the removal of petrol subsidy is the increase in the allocations given to state governments from the Federation Account. It is unfortunate that in most states the people are yet to feel the impact of these increased allocations.

Since taking over, President Tinubu had taken measures to alleviate the sufferings of the people by giving different categories of people different financial palliatives. It is a matter of regret that some aspects of this laudable initiative for the down-trodden were messed up by people in charge of it in the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs. He has also tried to change the direction of the economy from the rudderless path of the past eight years. The Naira has been allowed to float instead of being supported artificially by the CBN. This action has caused precipitous decline in the value of the Naira with attendant increases in prices of goods and commodities. To douse the pang of hunger among the people, the president has ordered the release of grains to the people from strategic grain reserve.

Student loans have been reintroduced. At every given opportunity, President Tinubu has always assured the people that there will be light at the end of the dark tunnel in Nigeria. Many people are not convinced. The Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) under the feisty Ajaero is restless and agitated. Just a few days ago, the NLC organized a two-day protest which was later changed to one day to protest against ‘hunger in the land’.

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President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has the reputation of getting things done by turning bad political economic situations around. He built this reputation in Lagos State where he was the governor between 1999 and 2007. Of course, governing a state is far less complicated than governing the whole country, but many people believe that he is up to the task. The economic situation in Nigeria at present is grim as a result of economic recklessness and mismanagement over the years, especially in the last eight years under Muhammadu Buhari who thoroughly disappointed millions of Nigerians with his unmitigated ineptness.

World history has shown that when the situations in some countries were dire and people were rudderless and forlorn, leaders usually emerged to salvage the situation. We have example of the emergence of Winston Churchill in Britain who saved his people from the debilitating threat of Adolf Hitler during the dark days of the Second World War. In post-war Germany, Konrad Adenaeur and Ludwig Erhard emerged to bring economic prosperity to the defeated Germany. Franklin Roosevelt as stated above rescued the USA with his New Deal to get his country out of the great depression. President Tinubu is certainly not an angel but among the three contestants for the post of the president during the last presidential election, he has the best credentials for the job. If one judges from its antecedents in governance one may conclude that perhaps he is the one destined to take Nigeria out of the present economic quagmire as Franklin Roosevelt did for the USA between 1933 and 1939. Time will certainly tell, but he needs the cooperation of every Nigerian since he has our mandate to do the job.

•Professor Lucas writes from Old Bodija, Ibadan.

SIR: With a population of 23.3 million that grows by 3.2 per cent a year, Nigeria’s commercial capital, Lagos is a megacity where the contrast between the rich and the poor is very sharp. Two-thirds of residents in this metropolis live below the poverty line. According to Amnesty International, over 70 per cent of residents of Lagos live in informal settlements.

With the deteriorating economic situation in the country, many people are becoming homeless. One may not take notice of this class of people during the day when the streets are bubbling with activities with everybody moving briskly as if the devil were after them. But when dusk creeps in, our urban areas become calm and quiet. Shops, supermarkets and kiosks are closed after the day’s activities.

In contrast, as soon as the streets are deserted, other human figures appear to scavenge from garbage bins.

Homelessness is a global issue. But Nigeria is believed to have the highest number of homeless persons globally; with an estimated 24.4 million homeless people. This alarming statistic sheds light on the complex socio-economic challenges the nation faces.

One of the primary causes of homelessness in Nigeria is rapid urbanization, leading to strained resources and inadequate housing. Additionally, poverty, unemployment, and lack of affordable healthcare contribute significantly to this issue.

The trend is deeply concerning, with the numbers continuing to rise due to population growth and economic instability. Homelessness not only deprives individuals of necessities but also hampers their access to education and healthcare, perpetuating a cycle of poverty.

The homeless are in three categories: professional beggars, lunatics and the poverty-stricken. Some of the beggars in our midst are able-bodied men and women, even children who are let loose by their parents, especially aliens. A good number of those beggars are simply lazy people who would rather take the easier way out of want. Many urban centres in Nigeria are witnessing an increasing number of homeless people. In the streets of our major cities, beggars are part of the landscape.

Many workers are victims of accommodation shortages in our overcrowded or overpopulated cities. Shylock landlords compound the problem by inflating the rents in the few houses available. Some low-income workers, if they are lucky, stay with their relations in overcrowded rooms. The not-so-lucky join the unemployed beggars and lunatics under flyover bridges as is usually seen in Lagos.

Of course, there are other causes of homelessness: alcoholism, drug addiction, loss of job and marriage breakup during which children are abandoned by warring parents. Some of them take to the streets and soon melt into the impersonal city crowd. They may beg for alms or do other odd jobs as bus conductors. At night, they sleep under the bridges.

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The issue of accommodating homeless people is one of the key social problems facing many governments. With the increasing cost of providing basic infrastructure, appeals have to be made to the social and philanthropic organisations to come up with rehabilitation programmes as a supplement to government’s efforts.

Some philanthropic organisations are coming to the aid of the police by building barracks for the men in uniform who are equally faced with the problem of decent accommodation.

One of the options open to the government is to build institutions to house the large army of destitute and acquire vast hectares of land so that the inmates can farm and learn other trades which would make them useful in society.

Addressing Nigeria’s homelessness crisis requires a multifaceted approach, involving government initiatives, community efforts, and global collaboration. By prioritizing affordable housing, education, and employment opportunities, Nigeria can pave the way for a brighter, more secure future for millions of its citizens.

The time to provide a home for the homeless in our midst is now.

• Dr Goodluck F.T. Uguoji, Akute, Ogun State.