NAMA Spends N15billion on Naviaids.

Nigeria is moving up in the world of Aviation as various aviation agencies in Nigeria have been doing some serious upgrades, in airports, airlines, aviation policies, shuffling of aviation management and board of directors for aviation parastatals and even the airspace in general. Clamping down on loop-holes and securing safer skies for passengers and airlines. 

Various aviation organisation have commended FAAN and NCAA on the directives on installing AFRIS devices on domestic airlines and even saying that the regulation bodies were being generous in giving the six months ultimatum in installing the device.

According to BusinessDay Nigerian Newspaper: The Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA) has embarked on upgrade of various navigational aids (Navaids), spending a whopping N15billion.

NAMA is an Air Navigation service provider with mandate to manage the Nigerian Airspace to a level consistent with the requirements of the International Civil Aviation Organisation Safety and Recommended Practices (ICAO-SARP).

The Agency, which is saddled with the responsibility of  providing safe and functional air navigation services that will meet international standards apart from  increase Air Traffic Management  (ATM) capacity in order to manage the increasing air traffic volume and simultaneously reduce delays, says it operates its air navigation services with modern technology.

Supo Atobatele, general manager, public affairs of the Agency, said facilities like the Radar, Instrument Landing System (ILS), Very High Omnidirectional Radio Range (VOR) and the Very High Frequency (VHF) radio system are all digital and their installations at airports across the country over the years had enhanced the safety of the nation’s airspace.

“These equipment are all working at an optimal level while training of staff has been intensified to sustain the safety drive,"

The agency added that as part of the ongoing transformation of the industry, the Federal Government had paid almost 95 percent of the cost to the foreign contractor handling the Automation Information System, adding however, that “a high-tech industry in Nigeria cannot be operating with obsolete equipment considering the huge capital investment of over N15 billion by the Federal Government on various  air navigation safety critical equipment.”

NAMA recently completed the World Geodetic Survey (WGS-84) of Bebi airstrip, joining other major airports already prepared for satellite-based navigation system.

NAMA said it developed this capacity through competence transfer achieved by the WGS-84/Performance Based Navigation (PBN) project of 24 Nigerian Airports.

“With this development, NAMA now prides itself as having in-house experts in WGS-84 Survey, PBN Procedure Design and Cartography. NAMA has also acquired through same project, state-of- art digital survey equipment and GIS LAB.

“The Agency is very ready to collaborate with any organisation that requires this service within and outside Nigeria, with assurance of delivery in accordance with international standards to ensure Safety of Air Navigation”, Nnamdi Udoh,  managing director of the Agency, said while endorsing the report on the airstrip. 

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