Air Traffic Controllers of the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA) under the aegis of the Nigerian Air Traffic Controllers Association (NATCA) have declared support for the effort of the federal government through the Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC) to sanitise the aviation industry.
The controllers in a statement signed by President and Secretary of NATCA, Victor Eyaru and Olawode Banji respectively said the recent revelation from the EFCC’s visit to the NAMA, was shocking and an attestation to the endemic nature of the corrupt practices going on in the agencies.
“Sadly, Nigerian air traffic controllers have continuously discharged their all-important and safety critical duties with epileptic equipment of which communication at the two Area Control Centres in Kano and Lagos is mostly affected. The nation’s radar equipment (TRACON), after close to 10 years of its installation, has no backup to cater for period of failure. The existing radar equipment has almost outlived its designed lifespan and requires replacement. No navigational equipment is at its best as well,” the statement said.
NATCA disclosed that all efforts of the body and its members to see to the fixing of these problems over the years only earned the controllers various attacks and name calling, adding that unfortunately, a lot of funds might have been allocated to fixing the unresolved challenges.
“Worthy of mention is the deliberate depriving of air traffic controllers the mandatory training since 2012 by continually attributing such to lack of fund or approval. This has reduced the capacity of the available air traffic controllers to effectively provide various services such as the newly introduced 24-hour Area Radar Service and Performance Based Navigation (PBN).
“Another area of fraud urgently deserving the attention of government is in the duplication of departments/directorates and creation of irrelevant departments/offices across the agencies. Appointment of non-qualified persons to man sensitive positions has also encouraged fraud and reduced productivity. Most of the agencies have over-bloated staff strength skewed towards the less productive departments. An example is that of NAMA having seven directorates with eight directors as against the original three directorates. The same agency, with air traffic control service as its core function, has only about 11 per cent of its employees being air traffic controllers as against between 45 and 70 per cent for other similar air navigation service providers globally,” the association said.
“The association wishes to commiserate with retired staffers of NAMA who have not been paid their severance benefits close to three years after retirement while financial recklessness recently uncovered (if proven) was ongoing within the same agency.”
NATCA therefore advised government that due to the sensitivity and peculiarity of NAMA as an air navigation service provider, pending the conclusion of the ongoing investigations or appointment of a substantive Managing Director, the federal government should immediately appoint, in acting capacity, a competent person equally qualified to be appointed as Managing Director in accordance with the provision of NAMA Establishment Act No.48 Part IV section 8 subsection 2(d) of 1999 (a person who possesses relevant and adequate professional qualifications in a senior management cadre and shall have been so qualified for a period of not less than 15 years.).
The association said this would stem the ongoing leadership crisis due to appointment of two persons as acting Managing Director within a week and in the interest of air safety.
“NAMA is a very strategic agency that should not be headed by anyone without both technical knowledge and proven administrative expertise in Air Navigation Service Provision (ANSP) under whatever circumstance to avoid any costly decision that could compromise air safety and spell disaster for the whole country,” NATCA said.
It also advised that to ensure that all the siphoned monies by those involved and their cronies are recovered and returned to the coffers of NAMA and those found guilty should be punished according to the law to serve as deterrent to others, adding that such probe should be extended to other aviation agencies.
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