Elusive Radar Coverage of Nigeria

The Total Radar Coverage of Nigeria, which was installed in 2010 was meant to capture, identify aircraft in the airspace and assist air traffic controllers in guiding the aircraft safely to its destination. But since its installation the system has been dogged by inconsistent maintenance programme and endless upgrade, writes Chinedu Eze

Last year, the federal government moved for the comprehensive rehabilitation of the Total Radar Coverage of Nigeria (TRACON) and signed a deal with the manufacturer, Thales of France.

The planned upgrade of TRACON, which was commissioned 12 years ago, was billed to cost N4 billion and 15 per cent of the money had been paid. The TRACON project is a major facility, which has eased air navigation and the surveillance of the Nigerian airspace and also enabled real-time search and rescue operations within the country’s airspace.

Before the decision by the federal government to rehabilitate the facility, it has been beset by many problems, which include hiccups in spares replacement, inconsistency in maintenance agreements with Thales and the fact that many of the parts have become obsolete.

THISDAY learnt that this has impaired efficient service delivery; that the users of the system, air traffic controllers, complained of failures in the purpose delivery of service and had at some time resorted to procedural, which is the manual guide of aircraft in the airspace. This system has its limitations. It relies on communication and no visual due to non-use of radar. It is separation based upon the position of the aircraft, based upon reports made by the pilots over the radio. It therefore does not necessarily require the use of radar to provide air traffic control using procedural separation minima. But it reduces the aircraft in the airspace and gives rise to delays of aircraft on ground and in the airspace.

Last year, the acting Managing Director of NAMA, Mr. Mathew Lawrence Pwajok, disclosed that TRACON had a five-year maintenance pact with Thales of France, its manufacturers which had since elapsed. He stated that in order to save cost, NAMA handed over the maintenance to its indigenous engineers, which had saved the federal government billions of naira.

“A whole lot of money has been saved through that action of our engineers to keep the system running. There had been significant improvement in traffic management with the radar. With this radar, we can see traffic up to Accra, Yaounde, Malabo, and many other places,” he said.

TRACON Rehabilitation

Speaking about the upgrade of the project, Pwajok said: “The upgrade of TRACON is ongoing, since 2010, we have not been able to upgrade to the top sky, the upgrade is expected to improve the functionality and efficiency of the system, it will become automated, and they will begin to issue information electronically thereby reducing the workload and pressure on Air Traffic Controllers (ATC) and pilots. The upgrade will cover the entire nation, the nine locations of TRACON. This is all to improve the safety, efficiency and capacity of the airspace”, he said.

THISDAY learnt that the severing of the maintenance agreement might have saved money for the federal government but it injured the capability of TRACON because many broken and outmoded parts could not be replaced, which led to improvisation and improvisation “depreciates equipment when you are not able to get the exact spare that is required.” So inside sources said that the system was degraded.

Former Managing Director of the Nigeria Airspace Management Agency (NAMA), Captain Fola Akinkuotu, confirmed the status of TRACON before the critical intervention to rehabilitate it. Evaluating the status of the equipment, Akinkiotu said: “Well, the situation now has improved considerably, definitely far from where we were in 2017. When I came in 2017, we had virtually severed the relationship with Thales, the company that built it and being the original manufacturers of the equipment, the maintenance contract was allowed to elapse and NAMA did not re-engaged them. But when I came we re-engaged them. So we are able to get spares and they were interested in actually working with us. We have gotten to the point where we are able to get spares. Recently we had a situation in Kano, they sent the experts here and they also sent the spares real quick. So our relationship has improved and right now we have the reconditioning contract in place and we are also going to have the upgrade contract in place; so, it is looking good and much better than in the past.”

Obsolete Equipment

Insider sources told THISDAY on Wednesday that due to long time that it took to complete the installation of TRACON, and that by the time it became operational, some of the parts of the equipment had become obsolete. So there is push for constant upgrading of the system, but unfortunately in recent times the spares have become extinct because the radar system in existence now is a significant departure from what was installed in Nigeria in 2010.

“They cannot see the spares and line items again so they need to upgrade the system and do a total rehabilitation of the whole equipment to be in tandem with modernity so it can effectively serve its purpose,” a senior maintenance official in NAMA told THISDAY.

Air traffic controller who has been using the equipment for a long time told THISDAY that from the time the equipment was put into use there was need for the upgrade because not all the functions attributed to it at inception were realised, so upgrade was taking place as the equipment continued to function.

“TRACON has been undergoing this type of upgrading for a long time. We are trying to modernize it. From 2010 it was installed there was a lot of upgrade needed. Now, we want to put the latest technology available. In the consul, the paper strip has been jettisoned and paper strip is now reserved for procedure, which is one of the redundances to TRACON. The International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) has a rule that every service provider must have redundancies, which you must fall back to if the system in use fails,” the Controller said.

Another NAMA official who uses the TRACON equipment also said: “We have been using this equipment for a long time. It needs turnaround maintenance (TAM). We are still using it but it needs augmentation. Recently I heard that the federal government brought in radar equipment from Argentina. NAMA wants to build a new centre for navigation.”

Reconditioning and Upgrading

In order to efficiently deliver its service, TRACON is being reconditioned and upgraded at the same time. An official of the agency who spoke unofficially to THISDAY disclosed this. According to him, because of the critical role that TRACON plays in airspace management, there was need to ensure that the equipment is at optimum performance. The source said that for the system to perform efficiently there was also need to step up the rehabilitation and replace every equipment that came with it when it was installed in 2010.

“They want to upgrade the equipment to pre-installation state. That is why they said it would become new again. It is like conducting D-check in an aircraft. They want to make everything become new again in the equipment. They will do it in tandem with the latest technology. So, they are reconditioning it and upgrading it at the same time, but what I do not know is if the process will be completed, but I know it has started,” the NAMA official said.

Personnel

THISDAY investigation also revealed that in response to the clamour of Nigerian Air Traffic Controllers Association (NATCA) to employ more controllers, as existing ones are retiring and as more airports are being opened; government took advantage of the clamour to recruit new personnel but most of the newly employed personnel did not have the motivation to work, many of them do not have the intrinsic desire to learn, so they do not adapt to the training culture required for them to efficiently deliver the service expected of them. THISDAY also learnt that many of them are not disciplined and therefore do not abide by directives. They reject postings and only chose the station they want to stay and work.

“We demanded for more hands because over the years ATC has been understaffed but in response to our request, they brought people to us who are not ready to work, who are not technically qualified. This job is very sensitive because the industry is fragile. Security and safety are very critical in the industry so we needed personnel that can fit in with the existing culture of discipline; but those they recruited for us are inexperienced, weak and unruly. Many of them came from the same region of the country so there was no federal character in their recruitment. In the industry it is a norm that you abide by the rule, but these ones don’t obey directives from their seniors and if you post them to stations outside the regions, they want they tell you they don’t want to go. You feel frustrated that those working under you, who don’t even know the job are not even willing to obey you. We are witnessing the degenerating of the aviation industry and this is not peculiar to NAMA. It is happening in other parastatals,” he said.

So, while the total rehabilitation of TRACON has started there are fears that it may not be completed, as there is need to meet further financial commitment to complete the cost of total overhaul of the project. Industry insiders also believe that if the turnaround maintenance is not completed, the project would become obsolete and would not be able to perform its critical surveillance role which has contributed significantly in air safety in Nigeria.