"Nigerian Aviation: Just Above the Runway"

Wednesday, September 25, 2002

Aviation: Just Above the Runway
Nigeria - This Day


Lagos, -  A couple of years back, the United States of America placed a
ban on flights to and from Nigerian airports claiming that the airports
were unsafe. Three years into the Obasanjo Administration, Andrew
Ahiante and Oscarline Onwuemenyi write on the performance of government
in the sector 

For those who have traveled in recent times through the nation's
airports, the state of things at the airports is no longer news. Apart
from the facilities that have been upgraded, touting has reduced
considerably, removing fear of would be travellers. 

The new Federal Airport Authority (FAAN) management is currently engaged
in a process, which is aimed at making FAAN one of the top 50 most
successful airport groups in the world by the year 2010. 

Though the journey did not begin today, the creation of the Nigerian
Airspace Management Authority (NAMA) out of the Air Traffic Services
(ATS) Department of the FAAN led to the re-structuring of the agency and
the modifications of its functions. 

Thus, the aim was for it to be able to develop and profitably manage
customer-focus airport facilities for safe and efficient carriage of
passengers and goods at world class level. 

Before this administration, almost all the airports in the country were
in a state of disrepair. The state of the Murtala Mohammed International
Airport (MMIA), Lagos, the main gateway into and out of the country had
deteriorated to the extent that the United States of America's once
declared it unsafe and banned flight operations to the United States and
vice versa. 

However, a tour to the various agencies of the aviation industry
revealed that a lot has been done over the past three years to reverse
the trend and reposition the industry with the desire to boost not only
tourism, but trade and economic activities. 

In a press conference recently, minister, Mrs. Kema Chikwe said "changes
have taken place in the industry, encouraging dynamic growth of the
sector". 

These she said, include granting of 15 operating air transport licences,
three air operating permits, 17 air travelling organisers licences and
two non commercials licensing to different bodies in the aviation
industry. 

To certify the glaring efforts made in the development of the aviation
industry, so far the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) in
October 2001 re-elected Nigeria to category 11 of its council. Other
developmental programmes include the construction of hangers at the
Murtala Mohammed Airport, a project that has been on the drawing board
for over 20 years. It is therefore to the credit of the present
administration that such a laudable project which will facilitate checks
on aircraft both in Nigeria and neigbhouring countries are realised now.
Other facilities which are ongoing are the contract for total radar
coverage of Nigeria which is expected to cost about $59.63 million on
completion, acquisition of brand new distance measuring equipment of
FERNAU 2020 type which was installed at Ibadan Airport, location of a
beacon at the Port Harcourt Airport, a very high Omni directional radio
coverage for Maiduguri and Calabar Airports respectively. 

Others are the installation of new instrument Landing System (ILS) and
Distance Measuring Equipment (DME) at both Imo and Ilorin Airports. Also
very high omni directional radio and distance measuring equipment have
been installed at the Imo Airport. In order to facilitate functional
capabilities at the Yola Airport, contracts for the installation of
Naviads and construction of new control tower have been awarded. It is
also on record that between the year 2000 and now, the Nigerian Airspace
Management (NAMA) has acquired and installed over 65 generating sets in
airports across the country to reduce the effect of incessant power
outages. On the whole, a list of 19 Navaids, 65 generating sets and 18
tractors were acquired and installed between year 2000 and 2001. 

Explaining the situation that led to flight ban on Nigeria, Mr. Ben
Gong, Head of Public Relations Department, NAMA, Lagos, said both the
United Kingdom and the United States, placed air travel restriction on
Nigerian flights for safety reasons. "We embark on very massive work and
upgrading of facilities. We acquired nine brand new VOR, 19 DME and 15
Instrument Landing System", he further said. 

Looking every inch happy over this fact, he said when the US team came
in September 2000, they expressed satisfaction over the trend of things
and consequently lifted flight restriction placed on Nigeria. "This is
one of the landmark achievement of this administration", he further
noted. 

Accordingly, he said all equipment acquired within the period have been
mounted and were functioning well. This is true of airports in Lagos,
Kano, Abuja, Port Harcourt and Zaria. Another major ongoing project is
that of the establishment of air routes in the nation. This is expected
to help monitor flights movements all over the routes. 

Recently, General Manager of the Enugu Arport, Alhaji Abdullahi Suleiman
Ciroma was quoted as saying that the Airport would soon go
international. "When I came here in 1997, it was only Triax that was
using here. I went out of my way to talk to airlines and it paid off.
They are coming here now because there are even more passengers than the
flights can take. Here, it is a matter of availability of aircraft and
not of passengers". 

"From what our engineers have done and the seriousness with which the
project is being pursued, I can tell you that the expansion of the
runaways and creation of a befitting terminal building will be achieve
before the end of this administration", he further said. 

FAAN spokesman, Mr. O. N. Nnaelepe recalled President Olusegun
Obasanjo's direction for "An aviation industry that meets international
standards, where all facilities, including those at the 21 airports,
work and are up to date, devoid of touting and pilfering, and in which
the aircraft meet the ICAO standards". 

Accordingly, he said "the government's high but nonetheless achievable
vision for the air transport industry is rapidly being translated into
concrete actions", He added: "FAAN is at the forefront of helping
government to realise this vision as government sees the industry as an
engine of growth, with FAAN as pilot". 

He said that the authority was implementing a massive airport
refurbishment programme as well as providing world-class services for
passengers at all its airports. 

"Thanks to this programme, MMA is fast claiming its rightful place as an
African hub. Services ranging from security to passenger comport, are
attaining global standards. It is being replicated at other airports in
the country", he further said. 

The tonic for the high level of development at the nation's aviation
industry, he noted is the role of the minister in directing such amount
of interest and investment to the airports. This, he said helped to
bolster Nigeria's full integration with the global community,
highlighted by such policies as open skies, double designation and
Build-operate-Transfer (BOT). 

"More than ever, FAAN is providing those facilities and services that
would ensure efficient facilitation through the airports. It is also
ridding the airports of undesirable elements", he further noted. 

The police of the management he said, is to ensure a fully operational,
efficient, safe, secure, profitable and corruption free airport system
in line with government objectives. 

At the office of the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), major
projects have either been carried out or ongoing with greater efforts
extended to the security. Drawing upon the September 11, 2001 tragedy of
the United States of America, enforcement of onduty card system and the
Apron Pass, it was discovered have been introduced. 

With this arrangement, unauthorised vehicles are kept at bay. In
addition, air side and land side gates of airports have been physically
re-enforced while patrol and mounting of surveillance on the car parks
to check the activities of hoodlums have been increased. The results is
that the airports now wear a new look. 

But the aviation industry has most recently been engulfed in controversy
over the proposed plan to privatise the ailing national carrier,
Nigerian Airways. The Ministry of Aviation had in an action contrary to
the on-going privatisation and commercialisation process, concluded
plans to transfer 49 percent of the nation's national carrier, NAL, to
Airwing Aerospace Limited, a Coventry, United Kingdom based leasing
firm. A joint venture agreement (JVA) which would have become effective
September 19 entered into between "Airwing and the Government of the
Federal Republic of Nigeria." The deal had attracted a lot of criticisms
from the public, but the federal government two weeks ago said that
contrary to reports, the deal had been suspended, it actually approved
the setting up of a technical committee to work out the modalities of
the joint venture. 

In summary, the JV arrangement specifies terms and conditions for
carrying out domestic, regional and international airline service
operations and other related and ancillary services and operations of
NAL, including making amendments to the Memorandum and Articles of
Association of Air Nigeria Plc to include domestic regional airlines
services operations in addition to the carrying out of other services of
the NAL. The FGN had in 1993 incorporated Air Nigeria Plc, a public
limited liability company, separate and distinct from NAL, to take over
the international route network and all of the foreign fixed assets and
bilateral operating rights of NAL. But this deal is not as good as it
sounds. 

Towards achieving the JV agreement, Chikwe had decided that about 700
aviation workers of the beleaguered Nigeria Airways would be laid off,
in the bid to bury the ailing national carrier and come up with Air
Nigeria that will take over from where the Airways stopped. This
decision had caused plenty of apprehension among the workers who have
nothing really viable in the proposed privatisation plan. Some of them
have asked the question: what is really the difference between Airways
and Airwing? 

The fact however remains that for the teeming workers of the national
carrier, who have fought tooth and nail to ward of the "evil" called
privatisation, reality has eventually dawned. And that reality is that
it can no longer be business as usual at the airline. It would be
recalled that the national carrier had earlier laid off 1000 members of
staff to the privatisation bid. However, Airwings, it has been
disclosed, is only ready to absorb 500 of the existing staff strength. 

The workers awaiting the evil day are already crying of insensitivity on
the part of aviation authorities towards their plight. This raises
questions on how Chikwe and the administration would be judged in the
future.


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