The Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA) said it has commenced a routine calibration of navigational facilities in 24 airports across the country. When completed in two weeks’ time, the calibration exercise, which is targeted at putting all navigational aids in optimal capacity would ensure that the facilities generate precise and accurate signals to guarantee the safety of air navigation in the country. Also to be calibrated and commissioned are the newly installed ILS/DME facilities in Lagos and Port Harcourt airports.
The Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA) therefore wishes to reassure the flying public of the safety of the nation’s airspace as all necessary measures are in place to ensure safe, efficient and seamless flight operations in Nigeria.
Meanwhile, the agency said its attention has been drawn to a newspaper publication with the title “Flight Disruption Looms over Obsolete Navigational equipment” wherein the author attributed alleged imminent “massive flight delays and cancellations” during the yuletide to “near obsolete navigational facilities at airports nationwide.” He goes further to allege that NAMA has done nothing significant in the last 12 months in the area of equipment upgrade.
We see the above allegations as totally erroneous and misleading especially when viewed against ongoing efforts by the agency in the area of infrastructure upgrade across major airports in Nigeria. There is also the need to put things in proper perspective as the above insinuations are capable of sending the wrong signals to our teeming airspace users as well as the flying public.
For the records, the agency has in the last 18 months embarked on an aggressive upgrade of navigational infrastructure in strategic airports in the country. For instance, Cat II Instrument Landing Systems /Distance Measuring Equipment (ILS/DME) have been installed in Kaduna, Lagos, Kano and Port Harcourt airports. In the same vein, installation of Doppler Very High Frequency Omnidirectional Range (DVOR) is ongoing at Maiduguri airport while that of ILS/DME is also in progress at Benin airport. Upgrade of facilities in other airports is to follow soon.
Meanwhile, work has reached an advanced stage on the installation of Cat III ILS in Lagos and Abuja. Already, a team of NAMA engineers are currently undergoing Factory Acceptance Test (FAT) of the CAT III equipment in the United States of America in preparation for its take-off by January 2019.
