Yemisi Izuora
The Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) has unveiled the Nigeria’s State Safety Policy Statement.
The policy statement has been signed by the Accountable Executive, Capt. Muhtar Usman, the Director General of the regulatory authority in compliance with the requirements of the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) Annex 19 on Safety Management, which was adopted by the ICAO Council on the 25th of February, 2013.
It however, became effective on the 14th of November, 2013.
The Chapter 3 of the Annex requires each Contracting state to establish a State Safety Programme (SSP) for the management of safety in that state.
This shall be done in order to achieve an Acceptable Level of Safety Performance (ALoSP) in civil aviation.
The requirement for a State Safety Programme (SSP) recognises that States as well as Service Providers have safety responsibilities. The SSP therefore provide a framework within which Service Providers are required to establish a Safety Management System (SMS).
Furthermore, the ICAO Global Aviation Safety Plan (GASP) recognises the importance of the establishment and maintenance of fundamental safety oversight systems.
These are prerequisites to the full implementation of the State Safety Programme and calls on those states with mature safety oversight systems to progress towards full implementation of SSP.
It is required that states that have achieved Effective Implementation (EI) levels of over 60 per cent should fully implement State Safety Programme (SSP) by 2017.
Nigeria has achieved 72.1 percent implementation level during the past ICAO USOAP Audit of 2006.
Towards this end, the Director General of the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), Capt. Muhtar Usman formally inaugurated an eleven-member State Safety Programme Implementation Unit on the 4th of August,2015, at the Authority.
The SSP Implementation Unit is to initiate the SSP processes and develop the platform for the implementation of the SSP in Nigeria.
Chapter 3 of ICAO Annex 19 on Safety Management and the Nigerian Civil Aviation Regulations (Nig. CARs), 2009 Parts 3, 6, 9, 12 and 14 state that as part of its SSP, each Contracting State shall require Service Providers to implement a Safety Management System (SMS).
The service providers are Approved Training Organisations (ATO) in line with Annex 1, who are exposed to safety risks related to aircraft operations during the provision of their services.
Others are Air Operators Certificate (AOC) Holders, Approved Maintenance Organisations (AMO), Air Traffic (ATC) service providers, operators of Certified Aerodromes and the General Aviation operators of large or turbojet aeroplanes.
Therefore the policy statement is expected to provide guidance to all stakeholders to ensure improvement in safety management and practices including safety reporting within the civil aviation industry.