NAMA, Air force partner to enhance airspace safety

To further enhance safety in the airspace, the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA) and the Nigerian Air Force (NAF) have begun collaboration in the areas of security of relevant infrastructure and calibration of navigational aids.

The collaboration, being one in a series, would also see to training of personnel and exchange programmes among staffers of the two institutions.

Director of Air Traffic Management Services, NAF, AVM. C. T. Gudi, during a recent courtesy visit to NAMA headquarters in Lagos, said that the agency remains a dependable ally of the Air Force with existing collaboration in critical areas like strategic airspace surveillance, air traffic control, airspace security and training of Air Force personnel.

Gudi said that the professional and technical expertise provided by NAMA in Air Force operations and training remained invaluable, stressing that the visit was “to deepen this existing cordial relationship and operational synergy especially given the numerous benefits accruing to the nation in terms of safety and security of the airspace.”

While applauding NAMA for providing on-the-job training for Air Force personnel who graduate from the Nigerian College of Aviation Technology (NCAT) Zaria, he also appealed to the agency to always consider the Air Force while planning for ad hoc trainings and seminars on Performance Based Navigation (PBN) and other such programmes, which fall in between the major courses at NCAT, Zaria.

According to him, “The aviation world is very sophisticated and dynamic and is all about who has superior training. Given that NAMA is more acquainted with International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) calendar and programmes, it has become imperative that the Nigerian Air Force be carried along in some of these trainings so that we can all be speaking the same language.”

Acting Managing Director of NAMA, Engr. Emma Anasi, said that the complementary role between the two institutions requires that a coordinated and harmonious civil/military collaboration has to be sustained and improved upon.

While appreciating NAF for providing security around navigational facilities across the nation’s airports, Anasi called for uniformity of Communication, Navigation, Surveillance/Air Traffic Management (CNS/ATM) infrastructure between the two organisations, which he believes would make for interoperability of systems and seamlessness in airspace management.