• To intensify surveillance

• ‘No pay, no service’ for airlines

Sade Williams/Business a.m.

The Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) will prioritise prompt and simplified licensing and certification of airlines among a raft of others, Chris Najomo, its newly appointed acting director general, said in Lagos over the weekend as he unveiled his agenda for the authority tagged ‘NCAA Project 2024’, and noted that the journey to transform the sector has just begun.

Najomo said ‘NCAA Project 2024’ will also focus on enhanced surveillance, consumer protection, staff welfare, as areas for utmost attention.

He also listed digital transformation, intensified revenue drive, universal safety audit and ISO 9001 certification as part of his agenda for the year.

Najomo also called on debtor airlines to pay up their debts or risk being denied services, henceforth, offering them the option of scheduling the payment, but insisting that the NCAA has adopted ‘no pay, no service’ policy as airlines will no longer get services not paid for.

A large chunk of the money (put at 50 percent) now goes straight to government coffers, he said, adding that as a cost recovery agency, it will no longer condone heavy debts from airlines.

“We are intensifying our cost recovery drive. The federal government now takes 50 percent of the money. Most of the airlines are owing us; we have told them to pay up. A debt recovery joint task force shall be mandated to implement the cost recovery drive. All debtors to NCAA shall cease to receive services from the Authority. There shall be ‘operation no pay, no service’ and there will be strict sanctions for defaulting operators,” said Najomo.

On consumer protection, the acting NCAA chief disclosed that there are consumer protection officers monitoring airlines operations at all Nigeria’s airports, adding that some delays and cancellations are not the fault of the airlines but when it’s their fault, they will be made to pay according to the regulations.

He hinted at putting up a portal where passengers can log their complaints for prompt attention and resolution.

“Enforcing airlines’ compliance with the Nig. Cars 2023 Part 19 (Consumer Protection Regulations) is priority. We will ensure that airlines provide timely care to passengers for service disruptions; we will ensure that consumers receive quality service in the Nigerian aviation industry and that their rights are always protected,” he assured.

Najomo stated that the NCAA is committed to implementing a simplified certification/licensing system to streamline the approval process.

According to him, this will be extended to other authorisations, approvals and permits.

“This is a derivative of the Ease-of-doing-business philosophy towards encouraging growth of the aviation industry,” he said.

On plans to enhance surveillance, he said the NCAA aims to implement a robust risk-based surveillance system intended to close any potential gap opened by the increased validity period of Air Operators’ Certificates for unscheduled and scheduled operators.

The surveillance which encompasses safety, security and economic monitoring, he said, will be extended to all service providers.

Speaking on ICAO’s Universal Safety Oversight Audit Programme (USOAP) – Continuous Monitoring Approach (CMA), Najomo said, ‘In the aftermath of the ICAO USOAP-CMA Audit of Nigeria’s civil aviation system, we will implement realistic corrective action plans that not only close the audit findings, but improve our aviation system.

“This means our focus is beyond just passing audits. We must enhance our safety oversight capabilities. Once Nigeria addresses the root causes arising from the findings, we automatically improve our Effective Implementation (EI) rating.

He added that the NCAA is collaborating with the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) and other relevant stakeholders in a bid to ensure ‘we have an excellent show during the ICAO Universal Security Audit Programme – slated 11 to 22 March, 2024.’

“The USAP audit must be seen as a priority by this management. We will endeavour to address all deficient areas squarely to assure the health of our aviation security oversight system is sound in the long-term, well beyond the audit.’

On NCAA ISO 9001 certification, he disclosed that achieving the certification would demonstrate NCAA’s commitment to providing a high level of service apart from improving aviation stakeholders’ satisfaction and meeting all statutory and regulatory requirements while it would highlight NCAA’s robust quality management system.

On information and communication technology (ICT) digital transformation, the NCAA boss said the Authority has embarked on a digitalisation journey with EMPIC with a view to implementing several modules of the system.

“EMPIC-EAP provides software solutions for civil aviation authorities and organisations. These modules include personnel licensing (PEL), medical (MED), type certificate, aircraft register, organisation approval and surveillance,” he added.