By Emmanuel Daudu
The Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), a body saddled with the responsibilities of regulating the safety of aircraft operations, air navigation and aerodrome operations, Monitoring of aircraft operating environment for safety and security amongst many others under the leadership of Chris Najomo, its Acting Director-General has rolled out immeasurable achievements within a few months in office, assuring journalists of a robust partnership for maximum publicity.
While unveiling the achievements in a media chat briefing with journalists in Abuja on Monday, the Director of Public Affairs and Consumer Protection, Michael Achimugu further charged journalists to be absolutely objective in their reportage.
According to him, “Payment of backlog of Housing (Rent) arrears to all Staff that had accumulated from 2019 was achieved successfully, Vigorously tackling staff stagnation issues: A ministerial approval was secured. For inter-directorate deployment to open up bottlenecks in structure, and subsequent promotion of stagnated staff from GL.14 to GL.15. execution of the Civil Aviation Master Plan was done under the administration of Captain Chris Najomo.
“Open-door policy and regular engagement (both formally and informally) with the NCAA Unions to ensure peace and stability in the workforce. Approval of 2024 Training Budget obtained early. Conducted induction plus Retreat for Top Management of NCAA in February, 2024. The Ag. DGCA signed a performance bond with each director at the end of this retreat, thus, setting the stage for the achievement of the DGCA’S performance target for the year 2024. He initiated institutionalization of the meritorious service recognition for deserving staff. This commenced with 3 staff recognized in the Port Harcourt Regional Office in February, 2024. Payment of statt monthly salary by 22nd of every month despite the eftects of the Authority’s reduced resources arising from 50% statutory deduction. Naira payments are made within 24 and 48 hours on receipt of cleared PV from internal Audit despite backlogs
“Inauguration of the National Exequtive Safety Committee (NESC) by the Honourable Minister. This is a key requirement in the implementation of Nigeria’s State Safety Programme (SSP).
“Creation of the Quality Assurance department to pran ote compliance with tachnical and non-technical policies and procedures witking the Authority. This
has been followed with the inauguration of a committee to draft the Authority’s first Quality Assurance document. On the issue of high air fares: NCAA engaged with foreign airlines in February, 2024, Ag. DGCA inaugurated a committee comprising NCAA, FCCPC and NANTA in March, 2024. These engagements, and others actions by the FGN, resulted in foreign airlines unblocking their lower inventory fares and made cheaper fares (Based on the HMA and Ag. DGCA’s sojourn to the UK, buoyed by the commitment of Mr. President, Air Peace was able to finally commence the Lagos-London operations.
“A complete re-evaluation of all holders of Permit for Non-Commercial Flight (PNCF) is on-going to ensure such holders are adhering to the terms and conditions of their permits.
Delivery of Indoctrination Course for the recently-employed personnel in DAWS, DOLTS, DAAS and Legal. Delivery of outstanding mandatory Courses for FSG personnel at BON Hotel, Kano. This is to ensure competency within the inspectorates.
“Creation of a dedicated unit for the Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems (RPAS) to drive the growth of the RPAS industry. Instituted a simplified certification process as a derivative of the ease-of-doing business policy of the Najomo administration. As the gate-keeper of the sector, Service providers who satisfy requirements would be certificated appropriately, while those who do not meet requirements would be formally excluded from the sector. In view of the above, three service providers have obtained Air Operator Certificate (AOC) within the Najomo administration so far. Reduction of the total time for certifications, aircraft registrations and provision of technical services. List of certified Heliports are now published on NCAA website and the system has been set up to keep it updated. EMPIC-EAP is being deployed as the regulatory software for selected modules. Training for super-users was done in April, 2024. ICAO conducted the Universal Security Audit Programme (USAP) — Continuous Monitoring Approach (CMA) of Nigeria’s civil aviation security system in March, 2024. The Authority led the charge comprising FAAN and other stakeholders through this 2-week intensive audit. All AVSEC national documents such as NCASP, NCASTP, NCASCP, NCASQCP and NCP have been reviewed and approved in accordance with ICAO Annex 17 requirements. Relocation of the Procurement department from the DGCA’S Office to the DCS to promote transparency and accountability in procurement matters. Prompt resolution of customer issues. Rebranding of the Consumer Protection Department for public awareness and effective service delivery. Prompt ticket refunds and payment of compensation for flight disruptions or baggage issues and ensuring better passenger experience for Nigerian passport holders by foreign airlines”, he added.
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