NAMA secures certification for 24 new air traffic controllers

Chinazor Megbolu

The Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA) has announced securing certification for 24 newly recruited air traffic controllers.

The agency in a statement issued on Sunday in Lagos, said that the certification, by the Nigerian Civil Aviation Organisation (NCAA), came after the trainees had successfully done the necessary training and examinations on Aerodrome and Approach Control.

The Managing Director, NAMA, Capt. Fola Akinkuotu, in the statement stated that the recruitment was part of the bid to enhance capacity and efficiency of air traffic management in Nigeria.

He further explained that the new air traffic controllers were presently being posted to strategic aerodromes in the country based on need.

Akinkuotu, however, maintained that it also recertified a total of 30 air traffic controllers in different categories of air traffic control, including Terminal Approach Radar, Area Procedural Control, he announced.

According to Akinkuotu; ”we also recertified in Area Surveillance Control after passing the required proficiency/rating tests and certified mentally fit, in line with Annex 1 of the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) and part II of the Nigerian Civil Aviation Regulation (NCAR)”.

He went on to point out that from year 2020 to date, the NAMA had recertified a total of 194 air traffic controllers, in addition to their periodic training and retraining.

Akinkuotu buttressed that the effort was aimed at keeping them abreast with the latest skills and technology in air traffic management, in order to ensure they remained competitive globally.

He also posited that in a bid to minimize delays and congestion in the Nigeria’s airspace, the NAMA had kicked off with the construction of Aerodrome and Approach Control simulators at the Murtala Mohammed International Airport, Lagos, as a pilot project and would later be replicated in Abuja, Kano and Port Harcourt.

Akinkuotu further assured that the safety of the Nigerian airspace remained a cardinal goal of the agency and used the opportunity to charged air traffic controllers to continue putting in their best so as to justify government’s huge investment in critical infrastructure, as well as on the capacity of officials.