Nigerian airlines have been threatened and might be banned from entering US following new security concerns... The United States federal aviation administration has warned
Nigerian airlines to resolve specified security issues within 65 days or
risk being barred from flying to its country.
This came after a team of US FAA officials who had recently carried
out an audit for the renewal of Nigeria’s category one safety status
gave the ultimatum on August 24. The US FAA periodically check foreign
airports with which it has bilateral agreements to ensure they meet set
standards.
The checks include having effective and efficient aviation
regulations, operational state civil aviation systems and safety
oversight functions and technical personnel qualification and training.
Others include the provision of technical guidance, tools, provision of
safety-critical information, licensing, certification, authorisation and
approval obligations.
Speaking to BusinessDay, John Ojikutu, member of aviation industry
think tank, Aviation Round Table (ART) and CEO of Centurion Securities
said airport certification is compliant to the Nigeria Civil Aviation
Regulations (NCAR) Part 12.6.4, which carries obligations on the
operator to continuously maintain standards and competence in operation
and ensuring availability of skilled manpower in sufficient numbers, for
the periodic maintenance of the facilities and the system.
“Many stakeholders would probably be asking; what is the
necessity for the certification when the industry was already classified
category one?” he said.
“What many do not know, however, is that the classification of
Nigeria as Category one, was meant only for the NCAA Regulations and
oversight competence, the way university academic programs are rated or
accredited by the Nigeria Universities Commission (NUC).
“Unfortunately, the NCAA is like a university that has been
long accredited but has not been able to graduate a student. The NCAA,
in spite of its category one status classification in 2010 and even
today in 2017 after its reclassification, has not been able to give
certification to a single airport among the over 28 federal and state
airports in the country.”
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