The Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA) has canvassed partnership and support from the International Air Transport Association (IATA) in the training of critical manpower of Air Navigation Service Providers (ANSPs) in the AFI Region.
The Managing Director of NAMA Captain Fola Akinkuotu who made these remarks while receiving the IATA Manager, Safety and Flight Operations- ATM Infrastructure Focus, West and Central Africa, Mr Yassine El Charkaoui at the agency’s headquarters in Lagos said “such a gesture would be a win-win for everyone as beneficiaries of the training will be better equipped, better informed and will be in a situation where they will be able to offer better services to the airlines in the discharge of their duties.”
Akinkuotu while calling for more understanding of the situation of ANSPs in the sub-region by the international body on the issue of navigational charges said there was the need to consider the cost factors in some areas particularly Nigeria in arriving at a conclusion as to whether charges are high or not.
“A lot of our equipment is in remote areas which we have to support 24/7 on alternative means of electricity, even some are off the national grid, and powering these stations comes at a cost.”
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Earlier in his address, Mr El Charkaoui said his meeting with the agency was pursuant to the Collaborative Decision Making initiative which seeks to improve operational efficiency of operators, increase capacity and also optimise the utilisation of resources.
Meantime, in a bid to address issues arising from the flow of air traffic among adjacent Flight Information Regions (FIRs), the agency has signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the Ghana Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) for effective synergy and collaborative cross border search and rescue around the common boundaries of the two states.
The memorandum of understanding which was signed at NAMA corporate headquarters in Lagos with a high-powered team of GCAA officials stipulates guidelines and procedures for collaboration on aircraft and weather/ terrain information sharing, deployment of manpower as well as search and rescue equipment in the event of an incident or accident.