The Austrian Ambassador to Nigeria, Thomas Schlesinger has commended Pwajok Matthew Lawrence, the acting managing director of the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA) and his team for enhancing safety, efficiency and economy of air navigation.
The safety was achieved by the agency in partnership with AVSATEL Communications Limited in the provision of world class Air Traffic Management systems, Communication systems, Surveillance Monitors and Meteorological systems at Lagos, Abuja, Kano and Port Harcourt Control Towers under the Safe Tower Project that automated the provision of air traffic services at Nigerian international airports.
Schlesinger made these remarks during a courtesy visit to the Agency’s headquarters in Abuja on Friday June 10, 2022.
Schlesinger said, “I am very humbled by your responsibility here because the lives of passengers and the lives of military personnel in flight rests in your hands. And that is something which we always have to be reminded of when you rightly recall the sad air accidents of 2005 and 2006 because at that time, you didn’t have this safety critical equipment that have now transformed the air navigation system in Nigeria.
“So, it is also very reassuring as private persons because we frequently sit in the airplanes whether in Nigerian planes or other international planes, and it’s good to know that our safety is guaranteed. And I’m very grateful, very grateful. I am very impressed by the beautiful work you are doing.”
Pwajok while addressing the ambassador who was in company of Antonia Bierbaumer, the Embassy Secretary and George Eder, the managing director of AVSATEL Communications, praised AVSATEL for providing NAMA with very effective and efficient equipment that has greatly enhanced safety in the Nigerian Airspace over the years.
According to the NAMA boss, “AVSATEL provided us with one of the best equipment ever, one of the very first projects that brought Nigeria to limelight internationally with the provision of automated or electronic air traffic management systems in our Control Towers in 2007.”
It will be recalled that Nigeria had previously recorded series of aircraft fatal accidents in 2005 and 2006 and the then government of Nigeria intervened through the Safe Tower project that included meteorological sensors for real-time weather reporting and Low Level Wind-shear Alerting Systems.
The project provided Air Traffic Controllers with enhanced capacity through the electronic flight progress strip management system, as well as the accompanying voice communication and control system for ground-ground communication between air traffic control units and for air-ground communication between air traffic control and aircraft in flight.
