Akinkuotu: Nigeria yet to benefit fully from airspace radar system

Captain Fola Akinkuotu is the Managing Director of Nigerian Airspace Management Agency. In this interview with WOLE SHADARE, he speaks on plans to fix air safety tool across the nation, upgrade of radar system, growth of air traffic and how the airspace can be made safer

How does it feel to manage Nigeria’s airspace as the Managing Director of Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA)?

It feels great and very humbling. When you are saddled with managing the airspace of your country and you see how big Nigeria is with our population, you must continuously bear in mind the responsibility that you owe government and to your people. I see it as huge responsibility and it must not get into your head. One must continuously be aware of the key aspects that you are expected to do. You continue to think about the safety aspect. As people travel back and forth, you are able to provide them with guidance in navigation. You have to look and ask if you are able to deliver to them whatever aids would guide them into safety. You also think about it that there are no policemen in the skies. You have to guide them to avoid any collision or even mishaps. For me, it is a huge responsibility, a humbling one and one in which am really grateful to Mr. President and the Minister of Aviation for choosing me as the MD. I am truly grateful. The job is good. I love it.

It is the country’s airspace very safe in view of so many reports we have read?

I can answer you by saying it is safer but anybody can say whatever they want to say.  It is as safe as it should be. What we also have to look at is that either by act of providence or by God enabling people to do the right things or by people doing the right things. Government’s policies are being implemented by the agencies. We have had about six years accident free years. It should tell us something. In life, I have never subscribed to half measures; we strive for perfection in everything that we do in life. When I look at the airspace, is it safe, the answer is yes. Can it be safer? Yes. Don’t forget that the dynamics have changed from time to time. May be 50 years ago, what we clamour about now in Nigeria is the type of traffic we have now that wasn’t there. But everybody has a car. A larger number of people have cars. We have to make provision either by expanding the roads, changing the network, having flyovers, having highways; these are the things that show that traffic has increased. The same thing will happen with skies. Fifty years ago, there was only one major airline. That airline was Nigeria Airways. Today, we have a lot of airlines but we have airlines that are equal to Nigeria Airways.

How has NAMA been able to solve infrastructure gaps in the airspace?

Like I said, we are expanding in traffic and we hope to expand further both for domestic as well as and international. The equipment we need is in billions of dollars. Key aspect of NAMA’s job is communications, navigation and surveillance. Let us look at communications. Many years ago, I think the European Union gave us a satellite communication system. That was many years ago. We didn’t do anything about it. We did not expand it but traffic expanded, equipment degenerated. So, what should we do? The question you need to ask is, do we need satellite communication? The answer is yes. The means of communication today that is considered reliable in terms of clarity is VHF but VHF has its limitations. It is restricted in a nutshell by what we call line of sight. Line of sight will have obstacles like buildings, mountains natural and man-made obstructions. For us, we were able to propagate them with VSAT and what we were given by European Union is not enough for our business today. The equipment does not come cheap. VSATs are the enabling infrastructure to bounce the radios off. We still need the ground facilities. We are in the process of extended VHF communication. That is a huge cost on itself. Then you look at navigation, someone asked me where the roads in the airways? I said to the person that the roads are there. Airways are ways on means between ground based or satellite based. They are about two navigational aids that are established. As you have high traffic you have to have more airways so that you reduce conflicts. Way back when we started flying, we wanted to go to Kaduna, We flew from Lagos to Ibadan to Kaduna. The other guy would fly from Kaduna back the same path from a different level. So, your separation was vertical but as traffic increased, you are limited in how much vertical separation can guarantee. You spread it out laterally. Therefore to spread it out laterally, you have to create other airways and this would happen as you expand traffic. Now we look at surveillance, our plans, our hope is that we have to have a revamp TRACON-Total Radar Coverage of Nigeria. The equipment that we have in place now is about 10 years. Everything that is electronics has a lifetime plus the fact that technology changes. We have not got the full benefit of the TRACON system. One of the things that we need to do is to upgrade not only the TRACON but the billing system.

Is it that the radar system is obsolete for it not to be able to capture when an aircraft enters and leaves the airspace?

It is not obsolete. It just needs an upgrade.

If it is an upgrade and you are not able to capture all those revenues until people tell you when they enter and exit the country’s airspace, isn’t the country losing huge revenue because we have to rely on what they tell us?

Yes the radar system as a surveillance system aids traffic but we can also provide the controllers a means of looking at a picture, providing efficient service to airlines all the time. That is when you can provide guidance to save the airlines’ money and this to me is key. I explained to a colleague of mine and a friend of yours recently that if I could save five litres on every flight, how much would it translate? It is a handsome figure. The airlines keep saying they are not making money but if you can make savings it saves a lot. Going back to the issue you brought up on NAMA’s revenue. When you want to operate a flight from Lagos to London, you will have a flight plan, you document it that you want to go from this point to this point, there is an exit point. While you are overflying Nigeria’s airspace we charge you. We are relying on what you file. You should fly as you fly. If radar does not change your course, you fly as you file. The air traffic controller clears you as you file. He has radar as back-up. God forbid something occurs and we are looking for an airplane, we know where to look for it. We rely on that and that should not be far from accurate on charges. Fair is fair. We don’t want to unnecessarily over charge the airlines.

There are blind spots in the airspace. Is NAMA doing anything to solve this problem? If I may ask, what are blind spots?

Let me see how I can explain blind spot. Let us imagine that different people poured water on the floor. They will flow. The idea is that the patterns and there will be overlaps. When they overlap means every area is covered. However if somebody pours waters and there   are areas not covered, those areas will technically be dry lands. If you look at the areas of coverage, areas that are not wet as dry lands will be the black spots. In radio propagation, where we do not have an overlap and there is no coverage or propagation because it is radio wave, those areas will be technically blind spots. The will be rectified because of radio installations, VSAT damage. Where we lose some coverage, those areas become blind spots. They can be overcome. The problem has not been so significant but we have identified it and we are fixing it. Recently, we moved the VSAT back. It has helped the sector. We are going to deal with the issue in Enugu and other parts of the country so that it will cover North-West corridor, South-East corridor. Some of the projects that government has initiated way back, if they had been completed as at when due, some of these problems wouldn’t have arisen. We are pushing on it. By the end of the year, we will have radio clarity. NAMA is addressing the issue very aggressively and I tell you we are in a position to solve the problem. We are solving the problem. We are going to do everything we have to fix it. We also want to make sure that our surveillance system is good with VHF radios so that Nigerians can make a good claim for the Gulf of Guinea.

NAMA has really done well in the area of equipment, infrastructure, but one area of problem is during Harmattan. How is the agency solving the issue of aircraft not able to land in zero visibility like we have in other climes?

It is easy for me to say there is always traffic in Lagos or there is flooding in Lagos. I read recently, there was flooding in India. There was flooding in other parts of the world. That is not an excuse. True enough, we have harmattan season that reduce visibility and because of weather minimal provided with different categories of landing aid, some flights were cancelled. Some approaching had to be cancelled. There is a minima for a VOR approach. The minima for NDB are lower than VOR and the minima for VOR is lower than the ILS and depending on the equipment on the plane. True, these technologies have been available for quite a while. When I assumed office, what we did was that we called for a meeting with Airline Operators of Nigeria (AON) because it is not good enough to just dabble, you have to look at it and do cost and benefit analysis. We held series of meetings so that we can have informed judgement about it. We agreed that we would make efforts to start installing ILS CAT 3 so that we will improve our ability to deliver seamless flight operations. We were focused on what we want to achieve so that our customers will be able to travel at any given time. We started the programme. The equipment has arrived. Installation has started for Lagos and Abuja. After the completion of this, we will go into Port-Harcourt and Kano. The next phase will be for Sokoto, Maiduguri. It will be based on a need necessity. If harmattan will affect Sokoto than it would for Ibadan, it makes sense for Sokoto rather than in Ibadan. It is not because of the region, it is because of traffic density. We believe that before the next harmattan season, the ILS Cat 3 would be in place in Lagos and Abuja. But don’t let us forget, we also have to remind ourselves that there have been alternatives that will enhance approaches during weather situation in the past; the RNAV and Performance Based Navigation (PBN) which have not been taken full advantage of by the domestic operators. Yes, ILS Cat 3 equipment provided by NAMA is half of the story. Let us look at the other requirements. So, FAAN needs to know that they have to provide certain things but the operators have to have the equipment on-board their aircraft. Like I said in the case of PBN, only Arik as far as the airline that has been certified can use the PBN. We have PBN approaches for 26 airports. Who are we then developing this infrastructure for? It means we are doing them for international carriers. Our airlines need to take advantage of it including ILS category 3. On the operators’ side, it will require pilot training, on-board equipment and recurrent training at every six months to guarantee that the pilots are qualified.

One of the achievements of the Federal Government recently is the acquisition of calibration aircraft, how important is this to your operation?

We installed navigational aids that are supposed to guide pilots on airplanes to the centre of the runways in a manner they can land safely. If the guidance is incorrect, it becomes unsafe and the requirements by the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) have laid down for us on a global scale how often we should calibrate, measure against standards. ILSs are supposed to be calibrated every six months, VORs every twelve months  What we have been doing in recent past is that we have been contracting either to ASECNA or other companies out of the country either in South Africa and paying them to provide the services. Two ways to look at it is capital flight. We are paying people to provide services for us for what we can do ourselves. On the other hand, we need to benefit from the technology by having our people becoming flight inspectors. We will also benefit by virtue of the fact that it is next door. So, if somebody complains that Lagos ILS is not functioning properly, we say no problem. With our ground engineers we call them to do a round check. After that, you can call the flight department to come and calibrate it. You can’t do that with ASECNA because their airplanes might outside doing other jobs. It is not that our airplanes cannot be doing other jobs, it will but at least within our beck and call. So, to that extent, we start to benefit from it tremendously and would save a lot of money.

How have you been able to manage industrial harmony in NAMA? In the past, it had always been rivalry between one department and the other that led to tension and all that?

God has been kind. We thank God we have peaceful environment. Let’s face it, a man of no fixed abode and no feasible means of livelihood, no home, no job will react. The human person by nature wants peace. In any progress mankind has made, man has been at the centre of it. We looked at our work force, what do they need? There were certain things that had been denied them. We looked at the affordability. The ones we could afford, we gave them. We looked at the means and environment for them to be able to do their jobs, we gave it. We saw that working with management will produce the well being of the organisation. We have been talking. The road has not been easy. People talk, we listen. We respond in kind. Where we have difficulties, we explained to them and we show appreciation to the fact that the workforce is at the core of the success of NAMA. It is a symbiotic relationship. You scratch my back I scratch your back.

You trained as an aircraft engineer and later as a pilot and have a lot of expertise in aviation. Where do you see NAMA in the next five years?

True. I started my life as an engineer and later as a pilot. I have been everywhere. Apart from the fact that the mission statement says we intend to become one of the leading ANSPs.  In five years, my prayer, my hope that NAMA should have exceeded all the standards in terms of their calling. Communications; I like to see in NAMA where communication is crisp clear. The communication should be up to scratch. I also like it supported by a good, knowledgeable work force; the workforce that is young and vibrant. In terms of navigation, I like to see a NAMA that is looking at what we have, making sure on how to reduce cost. I am also looking at NAMA that is harnessing solar panels, wind mills energy. I also like to see them looking at this navigation that will be in the cloud tomorrow and our surveillance into the skies. I want to see a NAMA where our radar system is superb but also not just being good or being safe but to see a NAMA  that sees itself as a partner to the industry, to the airline so that we continue to create an environment that will lower their cost. I don’t want to see a NAMAA where you taxi and taxi for 45 minutes, burning fuel that is not good. We have to see NAMA where the flight time from Lagos to Abuja for example will be 55 minutes. Is there radar guidance that we can provide to cut their time? I would love to see that. The future is in the cloud. Now, we have cloud based radar surveillance system.  I also want to see NAMA where some of the products that NAMA has engaged in for years that have not matured. I like to see them come into fruition. My dreams are tall. I want a system in air traffic where arrival managers and departure managers. Those are the things they have everywhere else in the world.  I want to see a NAMA where our South East corridors where we have helicopters flying and we are not capturing them. Government has provided money for multilateration. I love to see that happen. I like to see the North Eat corridor where we have not been able to monitor some of the issues that have created security problems for us. We can track them by multi-lateration. I pray that I am alive in five years; I wish that those things will happen and they can happen. But beyond all, my dream is to have a group of workers in NAMA that are truly dedicated, that are well educated and properly trained and the future will be in their hands.

Wole Shadare