Ken Okeke
The Federal Government has approved the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency’s (NAMA) request to overhaul and modernise the communication architecture of the country’s airspace.
The Managing Director of NAMA, Engr. Ahmed Umar Farouk disclosed on Thursday in Abuja at the in-house inauguration/induction for the newly appointed chief executive officers and directors of the aviation agencies.
He noted that the communication difficulty encountered between air traffic controllers and aircraft pilots became difficult as a result of epileptic electricity supply which he described as a national issue, stressing that the agency had declared an emergency on electricity.
He said, “We have declared an emergency on power because the moment you don’t have power, it is very difficult to communicate signal into the air that the air pilot will make use of and communicate. Those are challenges and we have that aspect of the satellite system.”
“The performance is fast deteriorating. Electronics generally, the lifespan doesn’t go beyond ten years. We are into 15 years of this product. What we are saying is that it is fast deteriorating and the government has acceded to our request to quickly modernize it and we are going beyond modernizing. We want to key into the latest technology as far as surveillance system is concerned”.
Farouk further stated that the key responsibility of NAMA is communication between pilots and air traffic controllers, saying, “We had issues before but I want to assure Nigerians that the communication architecture of Nigerian airspace is now broadened”.
Speaking for the Chief executive officers after the signing of the performance bond with the Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo, the NAMA MD said his agency is the heart of the industry.
He noted that what they did by signing the performance bond was a commitment to help the minister achieve his objectives for the overall good interest of the aviation industry.
“Much is expected of us. We are not oblivious to the fact that there are challenges and they are normal. As human beings, they are expected to tackle those challenges and what we have signed today is in line with the five-point agenda of the Minister and call on the Renewed Hope of Mr. President. We want to assure you that we are going to make sure we implement all that is expected of us so that Nigerians can benefit from it.”