Airspace congestion: NAMA installs radio communications across nation
- Navigation facilities working optimally-NAMA MD
To reduce air traffic congestion, coupled with adverse weather associated with time of the year, the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA) has installed new Very High Frequency (VHF) communication radios across the country.
The agency is also installing Instrument Landing System/Distance Measuring Equipment (ILS/DME) at Lagos and Kano airports.
Distance Measuring Equipment (DME) is a navigation beacon, usually coupled VHF omnidirectional range (VOR) to enable aircraft to measure their position relative to that beacon. Aircraft send out signal which is sent back after a fixed delay by the DME.
The Managing Director of NAMA, Capt. Fola Akinkuotu noted that the agency recognises that apart from the adverse weather associated with this time of the year, there is also a huge demand for air traffic services and has taken steps to strengthen its technical and operational capacity.
He disclosed that all the country’s navigational facilities are working at optimal levels, with precision approach landing aids at the five international airports where traffic is high also in top form.
He equally disclosed that air traffic controllers and other critical staff have been deployed to busy airports to ensure that there is no fatigue arising from pressure of work.
The NAMA boss also noted that airspace managers in all Nigerian airports have consequently been directed to embark on measures to strengthen air traffic management and surveillance systems in their respective domains to ensure maximum operational safety during the yuletide.
He reiterated that the need for extra vigilance at this time became inevitable because of the usual upsurge in traffic and the increased tempo of airport activities that come with the season.
He said as a department saddled with the responsibility of actualising the economic objective of the agency, it behoves the staff to operate a transparent platform whereby all the agency’s earnings are clearly harvested through proper issuance of invoices for settlement of charges, stressing that the realization of the budget estimates by the agency can only be actualized through diligent processing of returns by personnel of commercial department.
In a related development, the NAMA chief tasked workers in the agency to come up with procedures, processes and innovations that would correct all the existing imperfections in the revenue collection system of the agency in order to boost its revenue base.
Akinkuotu gave this charge in his opening remarks at the 2017 Commercial Department Officers’ Retreat which held in Lagos.
He further stated that as a department saddled with the responsibility of actualising the economic objective of the agency, it behoves the staff to operate a transparent platform whereby all the agency’s earnings are clearly harvested through proper issuance of invoices for settlement of charges.
He stated that the realisation of the budget estimates by the agency can only be actualized through diligent processing of returns by personnel of Commercial Department.
Earlier in her welcome address, the General Manager, Commercial, Mrs Joy Umeh said the retreat was to create a forum for learning where all staff would be equipped with latest trends in handling complex issues relating to revenue collection.
Umeh also expressed optimism that grey areas relating to the job will be resolved as participants used the platform to share their experiences, compare notes and come up with more efficient ways of harnessing the agency’s resources.
With participants drawn from 26 stations across the country, the three-day Annual Commercial Department Officers’ Retreat with the theme: Revenue Generation-A Veritable Tool for Financing Air Navigation Services featured power-point presentations, lectures and a report on the progress made so far by NAMA in the implementation of Federal Government Executive Orders.
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