NCAA begins corrective action to reverse poor ICAO safety audit rating
- DG vows to close identified gaps, draft report sent to Nigeria
The Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) has begun the Corrective Implementation Plan (CIP) in the aftermath of the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) Universal Safety Oversight Audit Programme (USOAP) of the authority in which Nigeria scored 70%.
The Acting Director-General of NCAA, Capt. Chris Najomo who disclosed at the weekend in Lagos said, “We have begun a realistic corrective action plan that will improve our aviation system. Our focus is not just starting audits; we must enhance our safety and surveillance capabilities. Once Nigeria addresses the root causes arising from the findings of the audit, we will automatically improve on our effective implementation rating.”
Nigeria scored five points short of the 75 per cent benchmark which in aviation is considered to be below pass mark of 75%.
It was the first time in 15 years the sector would fail the mandatory audit. However, it was given the statutory 60 to 90 days lifeline to close all identified gaps by the global aviation regulatory body.
The audit, which puts the regulatory agencies to the test, examined the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (CAA). The apex regulatory body scored 70 per cent in Effective Implementation (EI), at the end of the audit that was concluded on September 15, 2023
The NCAA was found wanting in training, which reduced the marks following huge gaps noticed in the training area of the examination.
Notwithstanding the poor result, Nigeria outperformed some bigger aviation nations.
Explaining what the aviation regulatory body had done to improve the rating, Najomo said that after the last ICAO audit that was held from August 12 to September 2023, the agency met and consolidated all the findings into a draft report, hinting the draft report had been sent to Nigeria.
According to him, “We have 45 days to comment on these findings and rectify these findings on January 26th this year by which we would have sent all our comments and send back to ICAO. ICAO will now send the final report to Nigeria. After that, we are given 90 days to respond by way of a corrective action plan. “
“So, it is 90 days from the release of the final report that we are given to adjust these findings of the corrective action plan. We have a score of 70% in the audit. Most of the countries that you see that had higher scores is that they did their corrective action plan. After we correct this, when they come for the ICPS we will be good. “
“We stopped ourselves from issuing certification for issuance sake. If we did, we could have easily gotten 20 or 30 more marks but we did not do that. It was deliberate. Having known the inadequacies, we will work on those gaps.”
Just last week, Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Mr. Festus Keyamo exclusively told Aviation Metric that Nigeria performed abysmally poor at the recent Universal Safety Oversight Audit Programme (USOAP) of the ICAO because of the inter-agency rivalry among the Chief Executive Officers and lack of coordination which he said cost the nation so much.
He said, “The problem has always been that there are inter-agencies problems and rivalry because at times, the NCAA DG said I don’t speak to the MD of FAAN because he needs FAAN to put some things in place before ICAO comes and the MD of FAAN says you cannot give directives. This went on for months until ICAO arrived and of course, we could not do well and had the type of score that we had.”
He further stated that since he assumed office, he had made sure inter-agency rivalry was abolished and one that would see the agencies and entire sector work hand in hand to achieve a common goal.
“When I came in, I said this cannot go on and I said, come and have your meetings with me. If NCAA comes up with anything, I will ask the MD of NAMA, FAAN to go and put it in place now. There will no longer be inter-agency rivalry so that we can move up on the rating by ICAO audit. The last time, South Africa scored 92% and we scored 70%. We cannot allow that to happen. There will be meetings and the Permanent Secretary will be coordinating it. The date of the meeting should be communicated to you. The CEOs should get a focal person to work with us on the audit.”
To forestall a repeat of the poor performance of the Universal Safety Oversight Audit Programme (USOAP) of the ICAO, the Minister has set up a security oversight committee to be chaired by him to close the gaps in safety and security audit as Nigeria works to pass the audit which comes in March 2024.
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