NCAA concludes safety oversight as ICAO begins audit

The Director-General of Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), Capt Muhtar Usman stated that the aviation regulatory body has done an analysis of its safety oversight establishment has been done including a review of the implementation of Annexes’ provisions.

Usman stated this at the opening ceremony of the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) Universal Safety Oversight Audit Programme for Nigeria at the NCAA Headquarter Annex.

Providing a background to the ICAO USOAP, he disclosed that the programme was initially launched in January 1999, ostensibly in response in response to widespread concerns about the adequacy of aviation safety oversight around the world.

The ultimate goal of USOAP, according to the NCAA DG is to promote global aviation safety through regular audits of safety oversight systems in all ICAO member states.

The USOAP audits are usually focussed on a state’s capability to provide a robust safety oversight system. ICAO does this by assessing whether the state has effectively and consistently implemented the critical elements of a safety oversight system.

In addition, it is aimed at determining the state’s level of implementation of ICAO’s safety-related Standards and Recommended Practices (SARPs) with associated procedures and guidance material.

Usman further disclosed that the programme was expanded in 2005 to the USOAP Comprehensive Systems Approach (CSA) to include safety-related provisions contained in all safety Annexes to the Chicago Convention.

His words, “This process therefore allows ICAO to tailor the audit in accordance with the level and complexity of aviation activities in the state. It will now determine the duration of the audit and the required composition of the audit team.”

Let me inform you that the audit is at the on-site phase as we are witnessing today. During this phase, the state is visited by ICAO audit team to validate the information provided by Nigeria. The team will therefore conduct an on-site audit of Nigeria’s system and overall capability for safety oversight.”

He assured that Nigeria is ready for the exercise, stressing that the authority had left no stone unturned and all hands on deck to ensure adequate preparation.

He recalled periodic audits and certification are not unfamiliar to Nigeria, adding that successive audits have been concluded with successes all the way and to all intent and purposes this prevalent exercise would be similarly successful.

In retrospect, Nigeria scored over 90 per cent in the counterpart ICAO security audit conducted last year. This was an exercise where Nigeria was one of the first countries in the world to go through the Universal Security Audit Programme (USAP) Continuous Monitoring Approach (CMA).

Usman called on all industry stakeholders to join hands with the regulatory authority to ensure another feat in this year’s audit.

He urged the media to support the agency, just as he appealed to them to refrain from speculative reporting and assumptions, hinting that success of the audit are a collective success for Nigeria.

The ICAO team leader, Mr. Jean Claude Waffo said they were not in Nigeria just basically audit NCAA and the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), but in Nigeria to assess the capability to regulate.

The thanked the NCAA for the necessary data they were able to provide for the audit which he reiterated made the audit seamless.

Wole Shadare