ICAO BEGINS AUDIT OF AIRPORT SECURITY SYSTEMS
A four-man team of International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) auditors last week commenced the security audit of Nigerian airports. The security audit known as Universal Security Audit Programme is expected to focus on areas such as Regulatory Framework and the National Civil Aviation Security System; Training of Aviation Security Personnel; Quality Control Functions; Airport Operations; Aircraft and In-flight Security. Also of interest to the ICAO team are areas such asPassenger and Baggage Security; Cargo, Catering and Mail Security; Response to Acts of Unlawful Interference and Security Aspects of Facilitation at the nation’sairports. According to Capt.Muhtar Usman, Director General of the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), the objective of the audit is to determine a states’ capability for security oversight by assessing the implementation of the critical elements of a security oversight system.Thereafter, recommendations will be provided for contracting states to improve their security systems and oversight capabilities. The DG has therefore, called on all stakeholders in the industry to join hands with NCAA to ensure another successful outing similar to the preceding Audit of 2008. The exercise is expected to end this week.
ECOWAS EMBARKS ON REGIONAL AIRPORT INFRASTRUCTURE STUDY
…AS TEAM LAUDS NIGERIA’S RADAR COVERAGE
In a bid to standardize and harmonize airport and aviation infrastructure among the 15 states that make up the region, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), has embarked on a comprehensive study of airport facilities with a special focus on safety standards, technical capacity, funding, maintenance of equipment, gapsetc. The idea behind the study stemmed from the need to benchmark aviation infrastructure within the region in line with ICAO standards which each member state will be required to attain. Receiving the ECOWAS technical team in his officeWednesday in Lagos, the Managing Director, Engr. Ibrahim Abdulsalam commended ECOWAS for the study and expressed confidence that the report of the study would provide ways to build a uniform aviation structure across the region. Engr. Abdulsalamalso advised the team to “make a good distinction between Airport and Airspace infrastructure in the course of the study.” Meanwhile, the ECOWAS technical team has said that Nigeria’s radar infrastructure ranks among the best within the region. Leader of the team, Mr Olumuyiwa Shokunbi in a chat with Monday Memo disclosed that “Nigeria is way ahead of several other countries we have visited in terms of Navigational and surveillance infrastructure and same applies to the technical capacity of personnel that run these equipment.”
AHEAD of the Controller-Pilot Data Link Communication service soon to be deployed by NAMA, the first batch of 12 staff comprising 6 Air Traffic Controllers and 6 Air Traffic Engineers on Saturday departed to Paris, Germany for a ten-day operational and technical training on the facility. Another set of 12 staff comprising 6 ATCs and 6 engineers are billed to join them on Wednesday for the same purpose.Meanwhile, a successful Airport hub implementation test for CPDLC linking the airport hub to SITA hub through fibre and radio was carried out last week.
AKUJUOBI BECOMES BENIN ASM AS IBEKWE TAKES OVER MMIA
A mild reshufflement in NAMA has seen Mr Martin Akujuobi, a former PA to the Director of Operations, moving to Benin as Airspace Manager. Akujuobi takes over from Mr Mathew Ibekwe who will be resuming at MMIA asthe new Airspace Manager. Also affected in the exercise is Mr Ifeanyi Okwor who has been redeployed from MMIA to headquaters as General Manager, ATC Operations.
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