The Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) has deployed national aviation safety reporting system for both mandatory and voluntary reports by those involved in flight operations in the country.
The Aviation Safety Reporting System (ASRS) receives, processes and analyzes voluntarily submitted incident reports from pilots, air traffic controllers, dispatchers, cabin crew, maintenance technicians crew and others who are expected to report occurrences in the course of their duties.
In other words, the authority has given access to those involved in airline operation to file reports to it in easy and convenient manner.
The deployment was announced in All Operators Letter (AOL) referenced NCAA/DG/AIR/11/16/341 dated 25th August, 2025 and addressed to all aviation stakeholders and the general public and signed by the Director General of Civil Aviation, Captain Musa Nuhu.
This is a follow up to NCAA’s establishment of a robust Safety Data Collection and Reporting System (SDCPS) called SMS Pro (www.ncaasms.com) that would bring Nigeria to full compliance with International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) Standards and Recommended Practices (SARPs).
NCAA explained that the SMS Pro system is web-based software which is user-friendly and mirrors the SSP & SMS (State Safety Programme and Safety Management System) ICAO-recommended framework comprising safety policy, Safety Risk Management Safety Assurance and Safety Promotion.
“It allows for full integration of the whole aviation industry such that each service provider has customized handles issued by the authority, to submit reports into the system,” the statement said.
NCAA further explained that Annex 19 to the Chicago Convention on International Civil Aviation and the Civil Aviation Act 2022 mandate the implementation of Aviation State Safety Programme.
“Specifically, Annex 19 SARPs (Standards and Recommended Practices) mandates as follows: “5.1.1 States shall establish Safety Data Collection and Processing Systems (SDCPS) to capture, store, aggregate and enable the analysis of safety data and safety information. 5.1.2 States shall establish a mandatory safety reporting system that includes the reporting of incidents. 5.1.3 States shall establish a voluntary safety reporting system to collect safety data and safety information not captured by mandatory safety reporting systems.
“5.1.4 Recommendation.— State authorities responsible for the implementation of the SSP should have access to the SDCPS as referenced in 5.1.1 to support their safety responsibilities, in accordance with the principles in Appendix 3.
“In addition, Section 62(1) of Civil Aviation Act 2022 states that: The Authority shall establish a State Safety Programme (SSP) in order to achieve an acceptable level of safety in civil aviation”; and Section 46(5) mandates the Authority to implement mandatory and voluntary non-punitive incident and accident reporting system.”
NCAA said that in view of the above, it is required that: all service providers certificated by the NCAA provide details (email and phone numbers) of their respective focal points for submission of mandatory reports to the authority; such details should be sent to: [email protected] +2348056163255; and [email protected] +2348057698698.
These focal points, NCAA explained, are expected to attend an orientation on the modalities, saying that a zoom invite would be provided for this orientation very shortly.
NCAA also said that as soon as access to the reporting system is granted, all service providers are required start using the system immediately.
“Though mandatory reports in paper may be still be accepted, submission of mandatory reports through the system is mandatory as from 1st September, 2023,” the agency said.
It also stated that the focal persons are mandated to immediately create awareness across their respective organizations and provide documented evidence that awareness campaign has been done to the authority not later than 1st October, 2023. Such evidence shall be submitted through the safety reporting handle; and
“As soon as customized handles for submission of mandatory reports is provided, the focal persons are authorized to share the link with other key personnel (flight crew, engineers, air traffic controllers, cabin.) within their various organizations to enable them submit reports which will be automatically classified under the applicable service provider in the reporting system.
“It is pertinent to note that both the NCAA and the NSIB (Nigerian Safety Investigation Bureau) have access to all submitted reports and are enabled to receive prompt email alerts as soon as any report is submitted into the system, including direct reports by the enabled public. And upon receipt of safety reports, both will do a preliminary risk assessment of each report to decide on which of the two agencies will handle the report,” the statement also said.
