Nigeria has attained another high-level safety rating which places it amongst the world leaders in aviation safety by climbing to Level 3 State Safety Programme (SSP) Implementation Process.
This is just as the federal government yesterday disclosed that the motive behind the proposed closure of the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, for six weeks is to save lives, saying that it prefers to lose billions of dollars in revenue than to risk the lives of passengers and crew.
Minister of state for aviation, Hadi Sirika, also said that Thursday had been slated for a session with stakeholders in the industry on issues arising from the proposed closure.
Sirika had earlier announced the closure of the airport in order for repairs to be made on its runway.
The Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), in a statement signed by the general manager, Public Affairs, Sam Adurogboye, stated that this categorisation was dependent on the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO), which tracks the SSP implementation process of member-states via its Integrated Safety Trend Analysis and Reporting System (iSTARS).
NCAA further stated that member states in tandem, therefore, deploy this platform to undertake Gap Analysis, define their action plans and benchmark their progress, adding that only two member states -Australia and Sri Lanka – had achieved full implementation of the SSP according to ICAO records.
Nigeria is striving to achieve Level 4 which is 100 percent by the end of 2017.
The State Safety Programme (SSP) process is inaugurated in member countries in compliance with ICAO requirements as contained in Annex 19 on Safety Management.
Consequently, Nigeria’s advanced level has put its SSP implementation process amongst states that had defined an action plan for all non-implemented Gap questions. In other words, Nigeria has completed its Gap Analysis, implemented 43.6 per cent of the required SSP tasks.
The country has developed a detailed action plan for the accomplishment of the outstanding tasks with an established and approved timeline.
In pursuant to the above, Nigeria has commenced the implementation of the SSP processes and has achieved several milestones. These include the completion of the SSP Gap Analysis and the establishment of the Implementation Plan approved by the director-general, NCAA.
NCAA said: “Other completed SSP tasks are the official authorisation of the DG of NCAA as the accountable executive of the SSP and the designation of the NCAA as the placeholder organisation of the SSP in Nigeria by the minister of state (Aviation), Senator Hadi Sirika.
“The approval and publication of the State Safety Policy Statement, the Enforcement Policy in an SSP-SMS environment, including Nigeria’s Voluntary and Confidential Reporting System, etc, are among the tasks that have been concluded.
“The ICAO Aviation Safety Plan (GASP) has recognised the relevance of establishing and maintaining fundamental safety oversight systems as a prerequisite to the full implementation of an SSP.
“Member states with robust safety oversight system have been called upon to progress towards full implementation of SSP.”
The NCAA explained that an SSP is an integrated set of regulations and activities aimed at improving aviation safety, which will be monitored through Universal Safety Oversight Audit Programme (USOAP) Continuous Monitoring Approach (CMA) after such a state has achieved an Effective Implementation (EI) of over 60 percent.
NCAA stated that it is required that states that have achieved EI levels of over 60 per cent should endeavour to fully implement SSP by 2019.
It stated that “Nigeria achieved an EI Level of 67.36 per cent during the immediate past ICAO USOAP Audit in March 2016, which is above world average of 63.54 per cent.”
“With this achievement, the NCAA will continue to ensure that air transportation in Nigeria is seamless, safe and secure at all times.
“The airline operators should take advantage of the robust regulation and adhere to all safety regulations as contained in the Nigeria Civil Aviation Regulations (Nig.CARs),” NCAA noted.
On the planned closure of the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, the minister explained that the stakeholders’ forum will give him the opportunity to officially inform players in the sector about the decision, and to also brief them on efforts being made to ensure that the use of the Kaduna International Airport, as an alternative during the six-week closure of the Abuja Airport, is seamless and hitch-free.
Sirika stated that the forum was in line with government’s belief in ventilating people’s opinions in formulating and executing policies and further said that the stakeholders invited for the meeting would also be expected to make their contributions and key into the plans to make their operations during the period less problematic.
He said that he was aware of the likely high level of inconvenience the proposed closure of the airport would cause air transport passengers, airline operators, and other service providers, but explained that the decision was informed by safety and security concerns.
According to him, the government would rather lose billions of dollars in revenue than put lives at risk.
The minister also disclosed that the aviation ministry would invite other ministries, departments, and agencies (MDAs) and organizations, including security agencies, the Kaduna State government, the media and others that are expected to play roles during the six-week period.
The minister had revealed government’s plans to shut down the Abuja airport during an unscheduled visit to monitor operations during the yuletide period.
A statement signed by the director of press and public affairs in the ministry, James Odaudu, noted that the minister would engage industry stakeholders on issues relating to the closure.
Niger Government Makes Case For Use Of Minna Airport
Meanwhile, the Niger State government yesterday made a case for the Minna international airport to be used as an alternative airport while the six-week repair work on the Abuja airport lasts.
Minna is the capital of Niger State, which shares the boundary with the federal capital city.
The government said the choice of Minna will cushion the effect of the closure of the airport in the interim.
The commissioner of information, culture, and tourism, Mr. Jonathan Vatsa, told journalists in Minna yesterday that the airport in Minna is the closest to Abuja and would be able to serve as alternative conveniently.
He stated that, in doing this, the government has appealed for speedy work on the dualization of the Suleja-Minna road, so that it will provide the leeway for the Minna international airport to be used as an alternative airport.
According to the commissioner, Niger State government will be ready to assist in making sure that Minna airport is utilized for the period that the Abuja airport would be closed if there is interest shown in that direction.
“We have always been saying it that because of times like this, Minna airport should be used as an alternative to Abuja. With the planned closure of Abuja airport for rehabilitation, I think it is wise, economically, to use Minna to serve Abuja,” he said.
The commissioner stated that the decision of the Niger State government to draw attention to the airport in Minna was borne out of the fact that the government does not want the rehabilitation of Abuja airport to have adverse effects by way of loss of man-hours administratively and commercially.
Vatsa further asserted that the state government was confident that the Minna airport had the requisite facilities and manpower to serve as a very good alternative to the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport Abuja.
“You can see (that driving) from here to Abuja is just about one-hour plus. If the duplication work on Minna-Suleja road is fast-tracked and completed as planned by the federal government, it would be faster. We, therefore, call on the authorities to look into this viable alternative,” he said.
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