Guardian: Experts seek new aviation policy

[NewsCaster]

 THE Federal Government has been urged to drop the existing aviation policy framework and urgently formulate a new one capable of serving Nigeria in the 21st century.

Meanwhile, the Director-General of the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), Dr. Harold Demuren, has said there is need to build a new terminal building at the Lagos airport, adding that the lack of new facilities is a huge challenge to the sector.

The call for a new aviation policy was made by experts in aviation industry under the aegis of Aviation Round Table (ART). They spoke to journalists yesterday at a press briefing.

The group, which is made up of popular aviation practitioners, including Captain Dele Ore, a former director in the liquidated Nigeria Airways, Mr. Sam Akerele, a former airspace manager with the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA), Mrs. Adeola Yesufu, Sheri Kyari, Albinus Chiedu, Publicity Secretary of the body, and Mr. Pekun Sowole, an aviation lawyer, noted that the existing policy cannot "take us to the Vision 20:20:20 project of the country."

Some people have criticised the aviation policy in the country over its inability to protect Nigerian carriers and strengthen the nation's aviation gains against those of foreign carriers, describing the policy as one that exposes the country to domination by foreign carrier.

The government has been inundated with calls and petitions from stakeholders for review of the Bilateral Air Services Agreement (BASA) in order to profit Nigeria, local airlines and passengers in terms of aircraft types, weekly frequencies and multiple entries into Nigeria, multiple designations without reciprocity, investments/taxes in Nigeria, employment, and with the intent to reduce capital flight.

President of ART, Captain Ore decried the alleged poor functionality of the multi-billion naira total radar coverage of Nigeria, otherwise known as tracon, stressing that the equipment, which was instituted in 1996 and the contract of which was signed in 2003 was yet to be completed with various challenges still facing it.

Ore's view was corroborated by Akerele, who noted that "the primary ones at Kano, Abuja, Port-Harcourt and Lagos are not integrated to en route radar stations at Obubra, Cross River, Talata Mafara, Ilorin, Kwara State, Maiduguri and Yola, Adamawa."

He reiterated that communication and image tabular on the radar seizes and drops respectively, adding that "technical workers are insufficient, therefore NAMA cannot run full 24 hour service at the radar stations."

He recalled that the contract for the project had been reviewed several times since it was signed with Thales of France in 2003.

Speaking on other issues, Ore berated the Federal Ministry of Aviation for allegedly sabotaging a committee on airports concession it set up in 2009 by dissolving the panel and frustrating it into oblivion without any explanation.

According to him, "industry stakeholders can no longer trust the Ministry of Aviation policy due to several somersaults. Airports concessionaires have become more powerful than the government and aviation agencies."

He explained that had the government taken the committee seriously, the decaying state of infrastructure at the nation's airports would have been arrested once and for all.

Demuren said the time is now to put in place terminal that will be able to cope with huge traffic that has made air travel a nightmare to many travellers. He spoke yesterday while receiving 2010 Aviation Personality of the Year Award bestowed on him by Radio Lagos.

The Murtala Muhammed International Airport terminal structure was built in 1976 to accommodate traffic of about one million international passengers.

According to him, figures generated by FAAN for 2009 showed that over five million international passengers passed through the MMIA, yet the capacity of the terminal building is yet to witness any expansion beyond what was designed for 1976 to 1980 traffic.






Source: Experts seek new aviation policy