Percy Onyeka
The recent International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) audits which is a little above the average global score said none certification of the five international airports in the country has been identified as the major reason Nigeria scored 70 percent.
This was the submission of the Director General, Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority, NCAA, Musa Nuhu during an interview with newsmen in Lagos.
He noted that the country despite not calling for an ICAO Coordination Validation Mission, ICVM, got 70 percent.
Aviation World gathered that ICVM is a coordinated mission comprising the activities carried out by ICAO experts in ICAO Member states whereby the experts gather and evaluate evidence provided by the State relating to the implementation of the accepted corrective action plans of the Corrective Action Plans, CAPs.
According to him, “I think there is a bit of misunderstanding on the whole ICAO Audit. Nigeria got 70 per cent for a full audit.
“It is almost impossible to go above 70 per cent with ICAO if you have not done your airport certification. We have not done our airport certification in Nigeria for the five international airports due to some challenges and difficulties.
“There is no need for me to sign airport certification when I know our airports do not meet the requirements. That will be more disastrous for Nigeria and there is also what you call the Significant Safety Concern, SSC.
“ICAO issues that to some states; that means the oversight function of a state is fundamental fraud. We did not get an SSC. There are things that people should be aware of. Believe me, in the next 12 to 18 months when we finish doing our proactive action plan, hopefully, we would have done certification of our airports and we would have closed some of the gaps.
“What we did was a full audit and the last time we had a full audit was in 2016 and after the audit, there is a period of time they will send you their report after 90 days and then, you have 45 days to do something.
“There is also additional 45 days, then, another 30 days. Then, a total of 210 days from my calculation before ICAO officially notifies us. During that period, you have an opportunity to rectify some of the issues and close the gaps.
“What most states do after the audit, they call for what is called ICAO. That is like a mini-audit to come and review, see all the evidences, all what you have done to close all the gaps. So, that 75 per cent global average that you are seeing, is not from the full audit.
“It is from the ICVM; so, we from the full audit, without even going for the ICVM, we got 70 per cent. So, the global average is 75 per cent for ICVM; the global average for from sources, which we have is even below 70 per cent, which we got 70 per cent and there are other issues.”
Techrectory with Agency Report.
