The Director General of Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), Capt Musa Nuhu has asserted that every aircraft and airline operating in Nigeria are airworthy and safe for passengers.
Nuhu made this known in a interview with Aviation journalists as a short reaction to the insinuation by Senator Smart Adeyemi over safety in the nation airspace
“I can categorically state that all aircraft we are flying in Nigeria are safe and safe to fly. You can quote me on that,” said Nuhu.
He further clarified, “The airplanes that are not safe have been grounded. Some aircraft have been grounded in Nigeria for months because they are not safe and we have insisted that the operators must fix whatever issue they have before they are authorised to fly.”
The Director General who he doesn’t have the authority to give waivers on anything that has to do with safety in the aviation industry in the country said, “The standard as regards airworthiness of airplanes, even I as the DG I do not have the authority to waive anything as long as it is a safety related issue. All our aircraft flying are safe.”
The Director General who believed the statement came supposedly from the National Assembly and was a misquotation, twisted by whoever, for whatever to make a sensational story. lamented that the such comment from the national assembly was capable of casting doubt on the integrity of NCAA at International scene, noted that it is capable of denying Nigerian airline operators from having assess to International funds and low insurance premiums.
“What this has done is that it has cast doubt in Nigeria civil aviation with international community and what that will end up doing is that it will make it more difficult for our airlines to assess international funds, to have good lease rate for their aircraft, their insurance premium may go up. Of course, the twisting of the comment has created an impression that Nigeria civil aviation is not safe and I don’t think you want to put your aircraft or money where the system is not safe. It is unfortunate and that is not the state we are in,” he said.
On the alleged gaps noted in the system and efforts made to block them, the Director General said training, restructuring and reorganization have taken place to ensure efficiency and effectiveness in the system.
“Well, unfortunately, we ran into Covid-19 when I came onboard. My first meeting when I came on board was on Covid-19 issue; but thank God, we are coming out of it and flights are resuming. We have done some reorganization internally, we have moved people around, we have moved people. We put square pegs in square holes and round pegs in round holes. That is the first thing we did and we had comprehensive training of technical personnel. We are training our people to make sure they are current, they are up to date so that they can have more skills and ability to do their jobs. We have insisted on all operators, that is, airlines, ground handlers and others, must comply with our regulations.
“This”, he said, “has led to the grounding of some aircraft because for some reasons, they were not in compliance and we insisted everybody must comply with the regulations.”
According to him, “One of the regulations is the aircraft airworthiness; the crew must be properly trained, proficient to do their jobs. Everybody must meet the requirements of the regulators.”
On the state of the airports in the country, Musa who explained that apart from the airlines, NCAA also regulates airports operators, and other aviation agencies, said that after the closing down for COVID-19 pandemic NCAA closed airports to make sure they are not reopened until Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) met some certain requirements.
“It is not only the airlines that we oversight; we oversight FAAN, NAMA and other government agencies. Some people think FAAN is the regulator, but that is no. FAAN is a public service provider and we regulate them.
“When we closed the airports, we make sure they are not reopened until FAAN meet some certain requirements, the chief regulator said.
He however commended the leadership of FAAN for excellent jobs done at meeting the requirements.
“I must commend the Managing Director of FAAN and his team for doing an excellent job. All the protocols are still there and there are certain things that the public may not necessarily see especially at the airside. Like what we call the Fire Fighting and Rescue Services (FFRS), we make sure FAAN does what it is supposed to do in this. Where the trucks were not good enough, we make sure they put them up to date, train their people and others. Honestly, I must commend FAAN and they did this at a very difficult time when their resources were really down.”
He explained further, “That was why we didn’t open all the airports at the same time. if you remember, when we saw that Lagos was good, we opened it, Kano is okay, we opened it and others. FAAN has about 26 airports to manage and it will be difficult for any organisation to open all of them at the same time. We categorise airports based on their traffic and importance.”
