Nigeria to license drones for commercial and private purposes

New regulations governing unmanned aircraft are in the works in Nigeria and they will compel the licensing of drones used for both commercial and private purposes, it has emerged.

Dele Sasegbon, the director general of the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) said in Abuja that the agency has proposed these regulations and they are now being considered for the integration of unmanned aircraft into the Nigerian airspace.

“We have proposed regulations already,” Sasegbon, told journalists in Abuja. “For the integration of unmanned aircraft into the national airspace system, we have to do it seamlessly.”

Steps have been taken by the National Airspace Management Agency to bring drones into the country’s airspace system, he said.

Individuals and companies in Africa’s largest economy with an estimated population of 180 million have expressed interest in the use of drones in agriculture, for monitoring pipelines and storage tanks in its oil and gas industry, and in power-line inspections, Sasegbon said.