NAAE president says, Airspace engineers underequipped, overworked with other unresolved challenges
President of the National Association of Air Traffic Engineers (NAAE), Mr. Seizling Miri, has raised an alarm over unresolved challenges faced by engineers in Nigeria’s air navigation sector.
Miri listed inadequate tools, poor working conditions and lack of operational support as major constraints undermining the performance of the engineers and limiting the impact they can make in Nigeria’s air navigation sector.
Miri, who spoke at the NAAE’s Lagos Branch Annual General Meeting (AGM) in Lagos highlighted that the management of the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA) has made giant strides but much more is needed to empower engineers and technical personnel to deliver optimally.
He lamented the lack of critical test equipment and modern tools as a key impediment, recalling personal experiences where the absence of such tools had stalled work that would otherwise have been resolved easily with proper gear.
In his words: “In the field, I’ve seen our foreign partners bring out tools that seem magical in the way they solve problems. But they aren’t performing miracles; they simply have the right equipment.”
He stated further that poor transportation to sites and decaying operational vehicles are some of the realities they face on a daily basis.
The NAAE president also recounted an experience at Jos airport where the only available vehicle was in such a deplorable state that it failed to start without the driver manually crossing wires under the bonnet.
“We’ve been crying for operational vehicles. My predecessor is here. He fought this battle for five years as NAAE president and we couldn’t achieve that. This is my third year as NAAE president, it has been the same cry.
“I went to Jos to work; the only operational vehicle they brought to carry me to site even animals you wouldn’t want them to enter that kind of vehicle. I am not exaggerating and worse still, the vehicle did not start, the driver had to open the engine trying to cross a lot of cables before they moved that vehicle to site. I was ashamed of myself, I was ashamed of the station, I felt so bad. This is how bad we can be and today, no vehicles in Jos and many other places”, he added
Such conditions, according to him are not only shameful but detrimental to morale and national safety.
Miri said “I have gone to a station in Benin, where our ATSEPs (Air Traffic Safety Electronics Personnel) staff had to sit on tractor slasher used to cut grass to carry him to site to go and switch on an instrument, this is not a good thing and I think with the new NAMA we have, I believe this should change”.
He acknowledged that the situation is exacerbated by the absence of functional workshops in many stations which implies that once faults are identified, engineers have nowhere to diagnose or repair faulty modules.
He maintained that without the right work environment, including tools, transportation, functional workshops, adequate staffing and fair remuneration, engineers cannot be expected to deliver the level of excellence the aviation sector demands.
The NAAE president said “No one can think straight on an empty stomach. Engineers must be in the right frame of mind to perform optimally.
“To make a lasting impact, the management must play its part by providing the right environment for us to thrive.
“The management has a part to play in ensuring that we are given the rightful environment to thrive, the rightful environment to make that lasting impact and I must also add that a good remuneration is good for an engineer”.