Investors and aviation sector regulators heaved a sigh of relief yesterday as the report of the audit released by the United States of America Federal Aviation Administration (USFAA) certified the industry and its infrastructure as having met international standards and best practices.
The USFAA has therefore re-issued Nigeria its Category One status, which allows direct flight operations between Nigeria and the USA. Minister of Aviation, Mr. Osita Chidoka, who was in USA to receive the certificate specifically promised to reform and strengthen the Accident Investigation Bureau (AIB) in line with the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) for greater efficiency and service delivery.
Chidoka also urged the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) to commence exchange programmes in air navigation between both countries to deepen knowledge and promote best practices.
The USFAA had carried out an intensive internal aviation safety assessment of Nigeria’s aviation sector earlier in the year as there were fears that the country may not retain the status it earned in September 2010 given what many saw as noticeable flaws in the state of infrastructure in the industry as well as instability and frequent changes in the management of its various regulatory agencies.
It was, however, learnt that USFAA had issued the certification after the Nigerian aviation industry, led by the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) and other major agencies in the sector, closed all the identified open items which the USFAA team had pointed out while conducting the audit in April this year.
Chidoka, in a statement said that the American FAA informed him that Nigeria had met the safety oversight requirements under the international aviation standards.
He noted that the retention of Category One status was hard earned and promised that the government would continue to ensure that the country sustains the standards to retain the CAT-One status in future safety re-certification exercises.
The Minister and the Nigerian delegation to USA also held technical meetings with the World Bank Transport Group where previous World Bank-supported programmes and the status of their implementation were jointly reviewed.
The World Bank team had made a strong case for Nigeria given its critical size, to lead the liberalisation of air transport in West Africa and take full advantage of open sky agreements with major regions such as the European Union (EU).
Team Leader of the US FAA audit to Nigeria, Mr. Andre J. Lamarre, who spoke to journalists in Lagos had assured that the result of the recertification exercise, which started on March 31 and ended on April 4, 2014 would be communicated to NCAA by September.
Lamarre said the US FAA had to delay the release of the result for some time to allow the regulatory authority in Nigeria sufficient time to file with the FAA the evidence of the training of some of its safety inspectors who had been slated for the exercise in Europe before the end of August this year.
Lamarre who led a three-man team comprising Michael Jennisin and James Plasman said the most important thing to FAA was the sustenance of a robust oversight of the Nigerian industry and the strict enforcement of compliance of safety regulation by NCAA. – The Sun.
