BusinessDay 22 Jun 2017

BUSINESS DAY
Fact Check
Have airports across Nigeria actually commenced
implementation of executive order?
About a month
ago, Yemi Osinbajo,
acting
President of
Nigeria signed
the three executive orders
with the potential
to significantly change
some of the ways government
business and operations
are conducted in the
country.
While implementation
has begun across various
sectors of the economy
including the aviation sector,
there seems be focus
on the five international
airports which include
Murtala Muhammed International
Airport, Ikeja,
Lagos, Mallam Aminu
Kano International Airport,
Kano, Nnamdi
Azikiwe International
Airport, Abuja, Akanu Ibiam
International Airport,
Enugu and Port Harcourt
International Airport, Port
Harcourt.
As implementation
begun across these airports,
government agencies
such as the Federal
Airports Authority of Nigeria,
(FAAN), Nigeria
Civil Aviation Authority,
(NCAA), the Nigerian
Airspace Management
Agency, (NAMA), Nigeria
On the communication system, NAMA
has also failed to procure and install
serviceable communication equipment,
making it difficult for pilots and air traffic
controllers to communicate.
affecting the ease of doing
business in the country
support for local content
in public procurement
by the Federal Government,
and timely submission
of annual budgetary
estimates by all government
agencies, including
companies owned by the
Federal Government.
According to NCAA, it
has put in place adequate
measures to ensure full
and sustained compliance
with the Presidential
Order at the nation’s
airports.
Muhtar Usman, the
director general, Nigerian
Civil Aviation Authority
(NCAA), has directed all
Aviation Safety Inspectors
(ASI) to monitor the
level of compliance with
the Executive Order (EO)
alongside their statutory
oversight responsibilities
at the airports as enshrined
in the Nigerian
NEWS YOU CAN TRUST I THURSDAY 22 JUNE 2017 C002D5556
Meteorological Agency
(Nimet) and Accident Investigation
Bureau (AIB)
have had to issue several
releases, made several
promises and taken steps
to show its compliance
but have consistently focused
on the five international
airport, especially
Lagos and Abuja airports.
The executive orders
which stipulate sanctions
and punitive measures
for violations also provide
specific instructions on a
number of policy issues
Civil Aviation Regulations
2015 (Nig.CARs 2015).
On its part, NCAA has
prepared a standard document
outlining its core
functions and services,
appropriate charges, fees,
licenses, waivers and other
tax-related processes in
adherence to the Executive
Order (EO).
Also, the Nigerian
Airspace Management
Agency (NAMA), says it
has begun the process of
implementing the directive.
Fola Akinkuotu, the
Managing Director of
NAMA, said the agency
had already updated its
website showing the requirements,
conditions
and procedures for doing
business or obtaining services
in the organisation.
These include all fees
and timelines necessary
for the processing of applications
for the services
of the agency, he said in
a statement on Sunday in
Lagos.
Saleh Dunoma, Managing
director of FAAN
said there would be no
more multiple checks at
the airport to ease seamless
operations so that
other participating agencies
will find it easy to
implement their bit of
the Executive Order. In
addition to these, infrastructures
are being put
in place at the Lagos and
Abuja airports.
FAAN therefore ban
luggage checks at the departure
hall of the Murtala
Muhammed International
Airport, Lagos.
“The Executive Order
does not give room for
pre-checks on luggage. All
checks should be done in
designated areas. Luggage
should not be checked at
the departure hall,” Dunoma
had said in a circular
issued to all operators at
the airport.
He said, “We have to
meet the deadline set by
the Executive Order. There
are strategies in line with
the order, but the concerned
agencies need to
meet regularly to ensure
that these strategies are
adhered to and improved.
While operators and
stakeholders continue to
commend the compliance
level at the various
busy airports in Nigeria,
one will wonder why the
implementation appears
to be slow at the other 23
domestic airports across
the country.
On the level of the implementation,
the NCAA
has failed to put in place
adequate measures to
ensure full and sustained
compliance with the Presidential
Order at the other
23 nation’s airports. While
implementation is done
in Lagos and Abuja, implementation
is slow at
other airport. It therefore
behoves on the agency to
sanction and call agencies
who do not comply
to order.
NAMA on its part has
failed to install equipment
that will aid visibility at
the airports, which has
made it difficult for some
airlines to land, while others
were forced to either
cancel flights or delay flight
operations.
On the communication
system, NAMA has also
failed to procure and install
serviceable communication
equipment, making it
difficult for pilots and air
traffic controllers to communicate.
Checks carried out by
BusinessDay show that
aside from airports in
Kano, Port Harcourt, Abuja
and Lagos, by 7:30 pm air
operations in most airports
in Nigeria cease operations
as a result of poor airfield
lighting facilities for airplanes
to take off or land
at night.
FAAN which happens
to be the agency that generates
most revenue have
also not lived up to its expectations
in providing
the needed infrastructures
across various airports to
aid seamless operations.
In fact, facilities across
domestic airports are still
left without regular maintenance
and most of them are
now in dilapidated state.
The airports lack hi-tech
equipment, proper scanning
machines and good
air conditioning system. In
some airports, the runways
either lacked lighting or
they were poorly marked.
TopfiveFacts
Trivial
$69 million
Domestic airlines pay an average total
sum of $69 million annually for aircraft
insurance covers.
2,505,612 passengers
The total number of passengers to pass
through Nigerian airports was 2,505,612 for
first quarter of 2017.
543 flight dispatchers
Presently, Nigeria has 543 licensed
flight dispatchers.
1,532 aircraft maintenance
engineers
Records by the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority,
(NCAA) show that there are 1,532 licence aircraft
maintenance engineers.
627,406 international
passengers
For domestic travel, MMA in Lagos was the
airport to account for the largest number
of international passengers, with 627,406
passing through in the first quarter of 2017.
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