NAMA Improves Airspace Communication in to Reinforce Safety

Chinedu Eze

The Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA) has put to an end the protracted problem of communication in Nigeria’s airspace with the completion of its Aeronautical Information Service (AIS) project slated before end of the year.

This was confirmed by the Managing Director of the agency, Mr. Tayib Odunowo, who disclosed to newsmen in Lagos, at the weekend, that to improve communication, NAMA has to first provide electricity to power its communication facilities across the nation.

Over the years, there have been communication hiccups in some parts of Nigeria’s airspace on air to air as well as air to ground, between pilot and air traffic control. But from all indication, the problem would soon become a thing of the past.
“We started with the power audit. You know when you want to diagnose a problem, you have to look at the symptoms before administering a drug. So, pretty much has been done in-house.

“We put a committee together made up of engineering, people that own communication and operations, which are the user department. So they have identified key things, key deliverables that we have started working on in order to close that gap. One of them is power.
“So, immediately we rolled up solar powered transmitters. What does that do? That bridges the gap for our communications.

“The second one we have deployed is manpower. The communication issue we have basically is in our upper airspace. So, the third one is that we are doing what is called Aeronautical Information Service (AIS) automation process, which is the backbone of everything we are talking about.
“Everything that we are talking about now is going to ride on AIS automation and that process is ongoing currently. The contractor has promised that all the five international airports will be operational.

“So, once we do that as phase one, then by the time we move to phase two and our communication issues will be history,” the NAMA boss said.
On paucity of Air Traffic Controllers who play critical role in flight operations, Odunowo said his management recalled some of the retired staff who were still capable and has embarked on training young personnel who would eventually take over from those who would leave in a few years.
“We have brought some people back right now that are actually retired because of the years in service not age. These are people who still have a lot of fire power in them. So, we have brought them back.

“Secondly, we have recruited 100 controllers now and we have started training. The challenge we are having is space constraint at NCAT (College of Aviation Technology, Zaria). So, we have had an MoU with the Rector of NCAT. So they are going to do a hybrid. Thirdly right now, we are working with the military.

“The military also has a school where they train controllers. They expressed interest in helping us. And then lastly, we are bringing in an organisation to train our controllers to get all their classes of licenses in six months.

“So, we have a four-point approach that we are working on to quickly close the gap,” Odunowo said.

On the completion of Multilateration Technology (MLAT) project, which would capture low flying aircraft like helicopters, especially in the Niger Delta, where oil and gas activities attract a lot of chopper operation, the NAMA Managing Director said the project was 90 per cent completed.

“The project is 90 per cent completed. It is basically concentrated more in the Delta. That region is the busiest airspace right now in Nigeria. If you look at the proximity of all the airports, you have all these low flying objects. “What NAMA is trying to do is to make sure that anything that flies in the Delta region is picked by the Satellite Based Augmentation System (SBAS). But right now, we intend to deploy Multilateration Technology (MLAT) all over Nigeria, starting from the Delta region. Don’t forget even in foreign countries MLAT kind of superimposes your regular radar. So, they actually work hand-in-hand,” he said.