Yemisi Izuora
The Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA) has today commenced another round of training of air traffic controllers and engineers at the Lagos Area Control Centre ahead of the Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Contract/Controller-Pilot Data Link Communication (ADS-C/CPDLC) billed for deployment in September, 2015.
The three-day training taking place at the NCAA Training Hall, Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos according to a statement signed by the GM Public Affairs of the Agency, Olajumoke Adetona is meant to sensitize and train staff on the installation and usage of the facility as commissioning date fast approaches. Also attending the training are staff of other aviation agencies as well as stakeholders in the sector.
The Managing Director of NAMA, Engr. Ibrahim Abdulsalam while declaring the training open, said that “the decision to deploy ADS-C/CPDLC to Nigeria falls in line with the agency’s vision of being a leading ANSP in the world by deploying modern technologies for Communication, Navigation, Surveillance and Air Traffic Management within the Nigerian airspace.”
He maintained that the agency’s efforts at developing Nigeria’s ATM and airspace capacity such as this are geared towards safely and effectively accommodating increasing flight operations in an aviation sector that has witnessed remarkable growth and structural expansion over time.
Abdulsalam declared that the ADS-C/CPDLC project is being strategically deployed in Lagos and Kano to cover the entire Nigerian airspace as well as remote continental and oceanic airspace to provide capacity for Satellite Based Communication and Satellite Based Surveillance within and outside the Nigerian airspace.
The representative of NCAA DG, Mr Macauley Onyeneke in his remarks said that NCAA places high premium on the success of the CPDLC project as shown by the large turnout of its staff for the training, adding that since Nigeria is surrounded by ASECNA countries which have already deployed CPDLC, it had become imperative for the country to key into the technology.