Govt. restructures directorates in NAMA, two directors to go

  • Shops for Director of Finance
  • US begins audit of Nigeria’s aviation

 

The Federal Government has concluded plans to carry out slight restructuring in some of the aviation agencies, especially the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA) as two directors (names withheld) are set to lose their jobs.

 

A top official of NAMA who spoke to Woleshadare.net under strict condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to speak to the media said the affected directors would be issued their letters of disengagement this week.

 

The source stated that Directors of Human Resources and Administration are two of the Directors that could lose their jobs.

As part of the restructuring, Directorates of Administration and Human Resources would now become a single Directorate. Also to be merged are the positions of Company Secretary and Legal Adviser which would now fall under one department and to be headed by Mrs. Anastasia Gbem. .

 

The new exercise would see Directorates of Human Resources and Administration come together as it was before.

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The Ministry, it was gathered is shopping for a new Director of Finance for NAMA,  just as the Federal Government has also confirmed the appointment of Farouk

Ahmed Umar as substantive Executive Director, Safety Electronics and Engineering of the agency.

 

It would also be recalled that the Minister of State for Aviation, Senator Hadi Sirika, had recently complained about the huge number of general managers and over bloating of many of the agencies with the creation of more directorates and departments; thus leading to duplication of duties.

 

Our correspondent had reported recently that plans were already on to reduce the 11 directorates in FAAN to six, with similar plan for NAMA and Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA).

The restructuring would return FAAN, NAMA and NCAA back to the status quo of fewer directorates they had some six years ago.

It would be recalled that a former minister of aviation some years ago expanded the directorates in FAAN from six to 10. The six were Directorates of Administration, Commercial, Finance, Engineering Operations and Security.

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After the expansion, Directorate of Legal Service, which was a department under the Managing Director’s office, emerged, alongside Directorates of Cargo, Projects and Human Resources.

Meanwhile, the United States Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) will tomorrow commence an assessment visit to the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA).

 

A four-member team from the FAA have arrived Nigeria to conduct the audit which will take place from 21st – 25th August, 2017.

 

The members of the team are Louis A. Alvarez, Team leader, L.P. Vanstory, Operations Specialist, Benjamin Garrido, Airworthiness Specialist and Jeffrey Klang, Attorney.

 

Spokesman for NCAA, Sam Adurogboye in a statement said the FAA officials would assess the State’s aviation law, regulations and oversight capability in accordance with the eight critical elements as defined in ICAO document 9734.

 

In addition, during the assessment, the team will need to visit the facilities of an Airline Operators Certificate (AOC) holder. They will look at the operations and maintenance organisations.

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At the end of the assessment there will be a debriefing session at the headquarters of the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA).

 

Nigeria had in 2014 retained the US highest safety standards, otherwise known as aviation category one status, showing that the nation had complied with all known aviation safety regulations.

 

The country was among six African nations that are category one rated. Others were South Africa, Cape Verde, Egypy, Ethiopia and Morocco.

 

The Category 1 rating means a country has the laws and regulations necessary to oversee air carriers in accordance with minimum international standards, and that its civil aviation authority equivalent to the FAA for aviation safety matters meets international standards for technical expertise, trained personnel, record keeping, and inspection procedures.

Wole Shadare