NCAA Says Nigeria Ready for ICAO Universal Safety Oversight Audit Programme
The Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority, (NCAA) said it has put every machinery in place awaiting the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) Universal Safety Oversight Audit Programme (USOAP) slated for the first quarter of 2022.
NCCA disclosed that Nigeria was fully prepared for the exercise, known as Continuous Monitoring Approach (CMA), which includes ensuring that the country abides by the global body’s recommended standard practises, having adequate technical personnel and efficiently regulating the industry to ensure high standard of air safety.
The Director General of NCAA, Captain Musa Nuhu dropped the hint while speaking during the opening ceremony of the League of Aviation and Airport Correspondents (LAAC) training at the Nigerian College of Aviation Technology (NCAT), Zaria, stressing that Nigeria had sustained a regime of robust regulations and over eight year of zero accident in commercial flight operation.
Nuhu posited that Nigeria was in position to excel by maintaining and improving on the reputation already achieved in the area of air safety and therefore urged all stakeholders, including the media to join hands with NCAA to ensure a successful audit.
The Director General of NCAA said “From now on, all your reports are very sensitive. Let us eschew sensationalism capable of putting the nation in bad light. Therefore, I will advise anyone to endeavour to verify and confirm his/her stories before publishing, if in doubt. It is my view that your watchdog role plays a very important part in fostering stability in the industry.
“These balancing, developmental and promotional stories are the hallmark of a burgeoning aviation industry like ours. Let us present our aviation industry as the most improved that it is. “There is no doubt that there is increased confidence in the sector as new airlines are coming in and existing operators are expanding their routes.
“Expectedly, our cost of surveillance programme and other oversight responsibilities as the regulator of the industry have increased correspondingly”.
He pointed out continuous human capacity development was one of NCAA’s administration core values, stressing that the regulatory authority considers training-including initial, on-the-job and recurrent training as a key component of aviation development in Nigeria.
Nuhu explained that training and retraining is a capital project for the authority because it is critical to its operations as the country’s apex regulatory authority for civil aviation in Nigeria, adding that its personnel are exposed to appropriate training all over the world so as to maintain and enhance their competence.
