ICAO audit: Nigeria scores 70% in safety rating
ICAO audit: Nigeria scores 70% in safety rating
Nigeria has scored 70 per cent in the just concluded International Civil Aviation Organisation Universal Safety Audit Program Continuous Monitoring Approach, the PUNCH learnt.
This is three per cent higher when compared to the last audit in 2016 which was 67.1 per cent.
The audit conducted from August 30 to September 11, 2023, primarily examined the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority’s ability to ensure safety protocols. It aimed to evaluate if the authority has successfully and consistently implemented the essential aspects of a safety oversight system.
According to ICAO, “this enables the State to ensure the implementation of ICAO’s safety-related Standards and Recommended Practices and associated procedures and guidance material and also provides ICAO with a means to monitor continuously the States’ fulfilment of their safety oversight obligations.
“It also focuses on the state’s capability in providing safety oversight by assessing whether the state has implemented the critical elements of a safety oversight system effectively and consistently.”
Breakdowns of some of the audit reports in Effective Implementation show the Civil Aviation Authority scored 90 per cent in Legislation, which saw a decline from the 95 per cent it scored in the last audit while it scored 83 per cent in Organisation compared to its 100 per cent score last time.
For personnel licencing, the Civil Aviation Authority scored 84 per cent while it scored 62 per cent in operations compared to its last score of 57 per cent.
For Airworthiness the Civil Aviation Authority scored 94 per cent compared to its previous 90 per cent in the last audit while the audit for Accident Investigation got a resounding 89 per cent five points up from its previous 84 per cent score.
In the area of Aerodrome and Ground Aids, the country scored 56 percent while for Air Navigation Services it scored 44 percent.
The audit report for the eight Critical Elements CE-1 Legislation, CE-2: Organisation, CE-3: Regulations, CE-4: Qualified Technical personnel; CE-5: Technical guidance material, CE-6: Approvals and certification, CE-7: Surveillance and CE-8: Resolution of safety concern was also available.
The Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority maintained its last score of 89.66 per cent in the area of Legislation while it scored 89.87 per cent in Organisation, 78.33 per cent in Regulations and 60.98% in Qualified Technical personnel.
In Technical guidance material it scored 88.24 per cent and 49.7 per cent in approvals and certification while in Surveillance and Resolution of safety concerns, it scored 42.22 per cent and 56.76 per cent respectively.
The Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo had earlier announced the Federal Government’s commitment to safety in the aviation industry.
He said, “Whilst Nigeria is not new to audits, no stone was left unturned in the preparation for this audit, to ensure a significant rise in the effective implementation of all the safety functional areas.
“Safety remains Nigeria’s priority, non-negotiable and it supersedes all other considerations for civil aviation.”
