The Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA) has unveiled plans to recruit additional 100 Air Traffic Controller Officers (ATCOs) to tackle the impending shortage of controllers in the country.
The agency also said that already no fewer than 40 ATCO cadets are undergoing training at the Nigerian College of Aviation Technology (NCAT), Zaria in a bid to fill the expected vacuum in the next six years.
Lawrence Pwajok, the acting managing director of NAMA revealed this over the weekend at the 51st annual general meeting of the Nigerian Air Traffic Controllers Association (NATCA), held in Ibadan, Oyo State.
According to Pwajok, the management had envisaged a gap in the number of ATCOs and had put in place a plan to recruit at least 100 personnel between 2022 and 2028. The ongoing training of 40 cadets, NAMA said, was apart from the 100 personnel planned for the agency by 2028.
Pwajok, who was represented at the occasion by Jubril Haske, the acting director of operations, NAMA, said several of the current controllers would retire from the system by 2028.
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He added that NAMA management had absorbed additional six ATCOS trained by Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) into the agency to address the expected shortage.
He said, “Management is aware of the current and impending shortage of air traffic controllers due to retirement, death and unrelenting increase in the number of airports around the country.
“Management is also aware of the pressure that the shortage has been exerting and may further exert on your members. Let me assure you that we are already working to ensure that the situation does not become an emergency.
“Presently, a Basic ATC Course is running in NCAT Zaria for 40 Cadets and very soon, another set will resume as soon as Zaria has space. This is besides efforts at obtaining approval to recruit additional 100 air traffic controllers for strategic replacement of ATCOS that will retire from service up to 2028.”
Besides, Pwajok stated that NAMA had trained at least 36 air traffic controller officers (ATCOs) in various courses and countries in the last six months.
The breakdown of the training indicates that 16 ATCOs were trained in Basic Procedure Design and Airspace Planning, in Cairo, Egypt in the first quarter of 2022, while an additional 12 were trained in Nairobi, Kenya in Search and Rescue Mission Operation within the same period.
Also, eight ATCOs traveled to Czech Republic for the Multilateration (MLAT) operational training in the first quarter of 2022.
Pwajok added that as part of the requirements for the development of capacity for the production of maps and charts including visual flight rules (VFR) charts, some of the agencies just returned from Cairo for training.
He stated that these were tailored towards achieving seamless conduct of theInternational Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) Universal Oversight Audit Programme (USOAP) for the country.
According to Pwajok, NAMA had also trained 16 ATCOS in Phase 2 of the Controller Pilot Data Link Communications (CPDLC) in Paris, France, while an additional 20 are slated for training in Cairo in the next two months.
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