In 2010 after almost three years of pursuit, Nigeria attained United States Federal Aviation Administration, (US-FAA), Category 1 certification, which the American government described as a major milestone for the country.
With the certification, the highest in aviation safety standards, Nigeria became the 6th African country after Ethiopia, Cape Verde, Egypt, Morocco and South Africa to attain the certification.
The implication of the certification was that Nigerian registered aircraft fly directly into US destinations without any inhibitions, aside from the fact that any Nigerian airline can also fly directly into the United States, considering the open skies agreement between Nigeria and the US.
The highly coveted CAT 1 means that the US is satisfied with the aviation processes of Nigeria in terms of safety procedures and standards sets by the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO).
The status was awarded to Nigeria in September 2010 after the FAA officials visited Nigeria and accessed the books of the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) along with that of Arik Air.
The status had since enabled Nigerian carriers, for instance, Arik Air, to fly direct to the US apart from presenting a positive perception to foreign insurance companies that the risk of doing business in Nigeria’s aviation sector is low thereby offering low insurance premium.
At that time, Nigeria passed all the eight critical elements including areas of safety and security, presented by the US.
Robin Sanders, former US ambassador to Nigeria, who presented the certificate three years ago, had said: “Aviation safety is really the order of the day and every country needs to live up to international safety standards.”
At that time the preparations under Harold Demuren as NCAA director general was visible. Although, three airlines: Bellview, Air Nigeria and Arik Air were designated on the US routes, only Arik Air was presented to the officials as the airline with safest and most modern equipment.
A lot of reforms were put in place before and during the exercise which took the country three years of pursuit to attain.
During the week, Fola Akinkuotu, current director general of NCAA, disclosed that the US-FAA officially sent a letter to it intimating it on the need to re-access the Certification with a view to ensuring that “the standards and processes as awarded in 2010 are still being maintained.”
He said in order to ensure that Nigeria impresses the officials and maintain the Status, the NCAA has set up a technical committee to monitor safety procedures and ensure that things needed and put on ground.
Akinkuotu, who said he is not afraid of the visit, said part of the safety measures the NCAA had recently embarked upon the audit of domestic airlines starting with Dana Airlines.
“Our processes are solid and to maintain the CAT 1, we will continue to update them according to ICAO.
“We should not also be worried about the quantity of inspectors in NCAA but the quality; we have also sent some people on training. The visit is to ensure that our processes are right, they want to be sure that the high standard points they left is maintained. At this period, the sector is under scrutiny.
“Getting CAT 1 is not difficult, to maintain it is the key issue. All hands are on deck by all agencies to ensure that the processes are maintained. FAAN is doing everything possible to ensure adequate security, we are putting all hands on deck to ensure a successful event,” he added.
But there are concerns in many quarters over the reassessment because it appears that safety in the sector has been lowered as the fatal crashes that occurred frequently and consecutively may have contributed to denting the image of the country’s aviation industry.
Also, there are still gaps in security programmes of the airport such as lack of prescribed perimeter fences of major airports, among others.
Only recently, India lost its own after the US reaccessed the Status because of its many safety issues. Israel has also lost its. Therefore, Nigeria needs to brace up to correct so many anomalies in the system in order to maintain the much coveted Status.
“It was a smart move on our part to delay the visit earlier on. The reassessment is mandatory so we would have used the period to dot the i’s and cross the t ‘s. Also the technical committee set up by the NCAA and the nobility of informing and seeking cooperation of the press is also commendable.
“The Indians lost it despite not having a major crash during this period due to government interference and inadequate proficiency of their inspectors. The committee should look at these areas and prepare adequate responses.
“FAA has a template that must be followed, NCAA should please go through it and probably discuss with the Indians and Israelis quickly,” Olu Ohunayo, a travel analyst advised.
He added that there is need for the Presidency as a matter of urgency, to confirm and name a minister, so the ball can start rolling, while he can still be ruminating on other ministries.
“The new minister should as a priority, give NCAA the needed support as they prepare for FAA reassessment coming up in three weeks. Also, our contacts in ICAO and other bodies should be co-opted to ensure we retain our CAT 1 status, while we also do the needful with respect to the templates,”
Also speaking, Noggie Megisson, chairman of Airline Operators of Nigeria (AON) said now that there is going to be a reassessment, there is need for government to distinguish among the duties of the agencies.
He said for instance, government had in recent times, ceded the duty of a sector regulator which is supposed to be that of the NCAA to others, a situation which he said is against aviation practices.
SADE WILLIAMS
