Distressed Economy: FAAN, NAMA lists measures taken to ensure safety
The Managing Director, Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria FAAN, Captain Rabiu Yadudu wants all stakeholders to prioritize safety and make necessary sacrifices to maintain and enhance safety in the industry.
Delivering a paper entitled: ‘Aviation Safety in a Global Distressed Economy: The Place of Nigeria’ at the Safety Summit of the Association of Foreign Airlines and Representatives in Nigeria, AFARN noted that, the global distressed in the economy are as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic which crippled global economies and the ongoing Russian-Ukraine war.
Other factors responsible for the global economy woes he listed to include recent massive flooding due to the effects of climate change contributing immensely to the distruption of the smooth flow of economic activities.
Captain Yadudu said, Nigeria is not exempt as the recent statistics from the National Bureau of Statistics shown that the inflation rate in Nigeria as of September 2022 is 20.77% which is the highest in seventeen years.
According to him, the distress in economy has resulted in rising unemployment leading to regional insecurity disrupting economic activities, oil theft and weak exportation leading to reduced foreign exchange earnings are bedeviling the Nigerian economy.
As regards safety, the FAAN boss noted that, the effects have been fluctuating/rising oil prices, increase in taxes and other bills, employee layoffs, increased operations/passenger movement and crime among others.
“In a country like Nigeria that is currently experiencing security challenges, people are forced to travel by air because of the risks that may encounter on road trips”.
“When oil prices go up, unscrupulous business people may cut corners by tampering withthe quality of oil. The quality of oil or aviation fuel is highly critical as low quality oil used on the aircraft can result in engine damage or, even worse, an accident because of malfunction”.
Captain Yadudu explained that, measures have been put in place by aviation agencies to ensuresafety is ensured.
One of such measures, he explained is the NCAA subjection of airlines to rigorous safety and financial audits not to compromise safety while FAAN as the airport operator has put in place several measures to forestall any decline in aviation safety standards resulting in decline in revenue.
“Among these measures are, recertification of Murtala Mohammed International airport, Lagos, Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, installation of runway 18L/36R lighting system at Murtala Mohammed airport, certification of MAKAI, domestication of human capacity development and recurring expenses like training and implementation of other safetyrelated projects across the other airports in the country”.
“The concern of every employee in the aviation industry should be safety”.
The Ag. Managing Director, Nigeria Airspace Management Agency, NAMA, Mr. Mathew Pwajok also listed what has been done to ensure safe air navigation to include, the TRACON project, Safe tower projects installation of Navids across airports in the country among others.
He also noted that, systems and procedures gave been put in place to assist airlines cut down on their operations like the performance Based Navigation, PBN.
