By Abel Orukpe / Correspondent, Lagos
The Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), has said that for the country to sustain safety in its aviation sector, there must be an effective, autonomous civil aviation authority and synergy among airlines operating in the country.
The Director General of NCAA, Engr Benedict Adeyileka said this while delivering a paper titled, “Sustaining Safety in the Nigeria Aviation Sector: The Attendant Challenges “at a forum organised by Aeroconsult.
Adeyileka posited that sustaining the tempo for achieving the United States Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Category one achieved in 2010 will help improve the level of effective implementation of the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) eight critical elements in all areas.
The Director General added that by the time ICAO carries out the Universal Safety Oversight Audit Programme (USOAP) Continuous Monitoring Approach (CMA) for Nigeria sometimes next year it is anticipated that the level of effective implementation for Nigeria would be above average.
It will be recalled that ICAO launched USOAP in 1999 to promote global aviation safety through the regular auditing of safety oversight systems in all ICAO Contracting States.
He posited that the full implementation of the State Safety Programme (SSP) by Nigeria and Safety Management System (SMS) by Nigerian aviation service providers is the best way to improve the country’s safety culture and improve in the Nigerian aviation industry.
He stated that following the introduction of Annex 19, NCAA,is currently developing the regulatory requirements for safety management system for all the service providers, adding that this will however be proceeded by the State Safety Programme (SSP).
The NCAA boss disclosed that the requirements and guidance materials will be ready in December 2014 and that full implementation may be required before 2015.
According to him, “There is a need to embrace safety culture that comes with SMS and allow it to over ride the national culture of managing or cutting corners in safety critical issues”
Another way of improving safety according to the Director General is the exchange of safety critical information between NCAA and service provides in the industry, adding that NCAA will provide platform for sharing of safety critical information in the implementation of SSP and that this will include a non punitive reporting system.
In his words, ”Striving to ensure compliance with applicable regulatory requirements by all the aviation service providers is the more acceptable way of sustaining or improving safety in the aviation sector”
Speaking further, Adeyileka said that one way of sustaining safety in the sector is when airlines in the country embrace the power of synergy and when airlines operating two airplanes merged to form one.
Source : Independent