The failure to empower the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) by the federal government to effectively regulate the aviation sector may have been the cause of many air crashes that had taken place in Nigeria.
Industry operators attribute this to the lack of autonomy of NCAA and the conflict in the responsibilities between the Ministry of Aviation and NCAA, adding that the lack of autonomy is against the recommendations of the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO).
Informed source from the regulatory body said NCAA cannot take critical decisions without referring and seeking approval from the Ministry of Aviation and most often airlines seek approval of a request from both NCAA and the Ministry at the same time.
“There are times they will bring requests here for approval but after approving it and referring it to the Ministry the Ministry will start the whole process all over again. For us at NCAA, we feel sometimes that we are just rubberstamp because in other Civil Aviation Authorities (CAA) these processes are started and completed at the CAA. Why is ours different?
“We are just autonomous on paper. Government should realise that if anything happens it is NCAA that is held responsible, so taking that recognisition, I feel that NCAA should be given the full autonomy to regulate the industry and take the blame when anything goes wrong,” the official said.
Corroborating this, the Managing Director of Medview Airline, Muneer Bankole said in his dealings with other countries to seek approval for international flight operation he had never related with any other body except the Civil Aviation Authority.
“One of the problems we have in Nigeria is that the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority does not have autonomy. As an aviation person I have travelled to 17 countries and in all the countries I have travelled to, including the countries where Medview has been designated to fly, including Singapore, Jeddah, UK, Senegal, Liberia; when I travel to these countries to request for Medview operation there; to do the bilateral agreement, we don’t go to the Ministry; we go to the Civil Aviation Authority. This happens everywhere in the world that I have gone to; not that people told me,” Bankole said.
Bankole whose airline, Medview started flight operation to London Gatwick last week said throughout the process to fly to London the airline management never related with the UK Ministry of Transport.
“Here in the UK where we got approval to fly to London, I have never seen the Minister of Transport. I had no business with him. I reported at the CAA. They requested for documentation and other requirements, including authorisation from our government through the Foreign Affairs. So we only wrote to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. That was the final bus stop. The Ministry of Foreign Affair will convey it to the embassy of that country through the diplomatic channel and it will be delivered and the airline will come and start the processing for operation. If you meet their requirement you get your Flight Operator’s Certificate (FOC) and that is the end,” Bankole said.
The Medview boss wondered why Nigeria’s policy is different; adding that for effective regulation of airlines NCAA must be made autonomous.
“These are the few things that we need to eradicate first. Let us start with what is obtainable in the world today. Every CAA has the authority of its nation all over the world and that is what ICAO has prescribed.
So if you look at all these you will see we are far behind. Even in small countries like Ghana, it is the CAA that is in charge,” Bankole said.
