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NAMA to train airspace managers on global air navigation plan

The Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA) has concluded arrangements to train Airspace Managers across all airports in Nigeria on Global Air Navigation Plan.

This, according to the agency is targeted at equipping them with global trends in strategic air traffic management and also building their capacity for seamless airspace operations in their various domains.

The International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) Global Air Navigation Plan (Doc 9750) is ICAO’s highest-level air navigation strategic document. It also serves as the plan to drive the evolution of the global air navigation system in conjunction with the Global Air Traffic Management Operational Concept (Doc 9854) and the Manual on Air Traffic Management System Requirements (Doc 9882).

The Global Air Navigation Plan (GANP) also supports planning for local and regional implementation.


The current GANP, the fifth edition, covers the period 2016-2030 and represents “a rolling, 15-year strategic methodology which leverages existing technologies and anticipates future developments based on State/industry agreed to operational objectives,” according to ICAO. The work programme contained in the GANP is approved every three years by the ICAO Council.

Speaking at the weekend in Port Harcourt during this year’s Airspace Managers’ Forum, the Acting Managing Director of the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA),

Matthew Lawrence Pwajok said it had become imperative that Airspace Managers at the nation’s airports are kept abreast of global trends in airspace management as aviation.

Pwajok disclosed that the agency was benchmarking and implementing the International Civil Aviation (ICAO) Standards and Recommended Practices (SARPs), noting that the training would expose managers to Global Air Navigation Plan, Regional Air Navigation plan, and the national air navigation plan and keep them acquainted with the civil aviation policy which is the framework that guides operations nationally.

 

His words, “You must also be kept abreast of the Aviation Roadmap or Masterplan of the Federal Government which is Our Communication, Navigation, Surveillance/Air Traffic Management (CNS/ATM) Masterplan and the milestones towards attaining these masterplans because these are frameworks within which we are expected to operate in carrying out our statutory function as the nation’s airspace manager.”

The NAMA boss said airspace managers needed to be top-notch in understanding the national air navigation plan as it relates to the implementation strategies, milestones, timelines, and technology roadmaps for achieving the national plan and the strategic position of NAMA in the entire plan, even as he solicited for their buy-in to ensure successful implementation.

Pwajok said with the increased pressure on the aviation industry at the global, regional and national levels following the growth in passenger and cargo, there was a need for the agency to grow capacity to be able to cope with the increasing traffic.

He noted that insecurity, expansion in the economy, and the upsurge in political activities in Nigeria have also accounted for increased demand for air travel, hence the need for strategic air traffic management that would ensure seamlessness in operations.

He cautioned managers at airports with limited hours of operations not to turn down requests for extension of services especially during this period of electioneering, stressing that this could be given political colouration.

“The Minister of Aviation, Sen. Hadi Sirika sees aviation as a support role to every sector and to everybody, irrespective of political leaning.”

He also canvassed for the support and buy-in of managers with respect to the aviation roadmap being implemented by the minister, which he said would enhance the growth of the industry.

According to him, airports the world over are best handled by experts who run them as a business and not the government, adding that concessions of airports in Nigeria would attract direct foreign investment necessary for export expansion, development of aerotropolis, airport cities, cargo terminals as well as Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul (MRO) operations.”

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