Former Chief I Air Staff Adeola Amosu, NATCA president Yomi Agoro, Director Operations NAMA, Mr. Lawrence Pwajok presenting a gift to Amosu at the NATCA AGM in Kano
The Nigerian airspace Management Agency (NAMA) is to commence the installation of another VSAT station and Very High Frequency, VHF radio systems this week at the Akanu Ibiam International Airport, Enugu.
Managing Director, NAMA, Captain. Fola Akinkuotu who revealed this at the 48th Annual General Meeting of the Nigerian Air Traffic Controllers’ Association (NATCA) in Kano, said the installation of these equipment would enhance upper airways communication along the South East corridor using 127.3MHz radio frequency, adding that the agency’s determination to totally eliminate blind spots from the upper airspace informed these recent deployments.
He implored controllers to imbibe good work ethics and strive for professionalism.
Captain Akinkuotu, urged the ATCs to support initiatives of the agency such as the implementation of sectorization which he said was a continuous process.
He also promised to address concerns raised by controllers bordering on work tools, staff training and welfare among others.
Minister of Aviation, Senator Hadi Sirika in a live telephone conversation from Abuja promised that the Buhari administration would continue to partner with air traffic controllers and other relevant stakeholders to ensure safe skies for the country.
Also in his remarks, the Director of Operations, Mr. Mathew Lawrence Pwajok itemized some of the achievements of the agency under his directorate to include sectorization of Lagos Area Control operations into East and West sectors, reactivation of search and rescue operations, training of different categories of critical staff as well as licensing and rating of qualified air traffic controllers.
Earlier in his address, president of NATCA, Abayomi Agoro drew attention to some of the problems affecting air traffic controllers such as shortage of critical manpower, unavailability of special fund for ATC training, ageing communication facilities, delay in the approval of air traffic controllers’ new scheme of service etc. He enumerated the achievements of his executive to include the recent ATC-Pilot interactive forum held in Lagos as well as the induction of newly rated controllers targeted at inculcating high ethical standards and professional competence in members.
The forum attracted dignitaries such as the representative of the governor of Kano State, Abdullahi Umar Ganduje and former Chief of Air Staff, Nigerian Air Force, Air Marshal Adeola Amosu (Rtd) who presented a paper on “The Implications of a Demotivated/Demoralized Manpower in the Safe and Effective Air Navigation Service Delivery in Nigeria.”
