NAMA MD promises completion of AIS automation

THE Managing Director of the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA), Captain Fola Akinkuotu has assured that the lingering challenges militating against the implementation of Aeronautical Information Services (AIS) automation will soon come to an end.

This is just as the agency has lost no fewer than 21 staff in the last 18 months as a result of the non-implementation of the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) for staff of the agency.

Speaking at the World AIS Day celebration in Abuja, the NAMA MD, Akinkuotu, who acknowledged the long delay in the implementation of the project, said efforts by the present administration had already yielded possible results.

Akinkuotu, represented by Mr Nwokoye Nicholas, General Manager, Air Traffic Control Operations said, there was a bright future to complete the project as the Minister of Aviation had bought into the funding of the project.

According to the NAMA MD, equally, the long-awaited Air Traffic Services (ATS) message handling switches for Kano and Lagos had already been installed, with its configuration and activation already commenced on May 17.

On the training of AIS personnel, the NAMA boss explained that training and retraining remained paramount by giving it the deserved priority in order to meet the required international standards and to get better staff performance output.

He noted that the most vital roles in support of international civil aviation were the provision of quality AIS to ensure uniformity and consistency in the flow of aeronautical information data to satisfy the need for safety, regularity and efficiency

Akinkuotu acknowledged that the role and importance of AIS changed significantly with the advent of the internet era, the implementation of area navigation, required navigation performance, hence, the need to obtain quality and timely aeronautical information.

During his presentation at the event, the president of Aeronautical Information Management (AIMAN), William Ngerem who lamented the death of 21 workers at the agency, said the security of aviation workers remained paramount while he condemned the recent attacks in Kaduna and Jos airport FAAN quarters.

Ngerem who noted that the attack on the workers revealed the grave dangers aviators across the country faced in the light of security challenges, equally lamented how Nigeria had lagged behind in Africa in the area of AIS automation when compared with other countries especially in the African region.

For Ngerem, only enhanced AIS automation can tackle the circulation of obsolete, corrupt and untimely data, just as he called on the minister of aviation, Senator Hadi Sirika to, as a matter of urgency, implement the automation of the AIS in its totality.

Ngerem further called on the management of the Nigerian College of Aviation Technology (NCAT), Zaria, as an industry capacity development institution. to improve capacity in the area of AIS automation in order to effectively train and retrain industry staff.

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