Nigeria scores 70% in just concluded aviation safety audit

Nigeria has scored 70 percent in the just concluded International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) Universal Safety Audit Program Continuous Monitoring Approach (USOAP)- CMA. This is said to be three percent higher than the last audit which occurred in 2016 where the nation scored 67.1 percent.

The audit which took place between August 30 and September 11, 2023, focused on a State’s ( in this case the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority) capability to provide safety oversight by assessing whether the State has implemented the critical elements (CEs) of a safety oversight system effectively and consistently.

According to ICAO, this enables the State to ensure the implementation of ICAO’s safety-related Standards and Recommended Practices (SARPs) and associated procedures and guidance material and also provides ICAO with a means to monitor continuously the States’ fulfilment of their safety oversight obligations.

Breakdowns of some of the audit reports in Effective Implementation ( EI) show the Civil Aviation Authority scored 90 percent in Legislation, a reduction from the 95 percent it scored in the last audit while it scored 83 percent in Organisation compared to its 100 percent score last time around.

For personnel licencing, the Civil Aviation Authority scored 84 percent while it scored 62 percent in operations compared to its last score of 57 percent.

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For Airworthiness the Civil Aviation Authority scored 94 percent compared to its previous 90 percent in the last audit while the audit for Accident Investigation got a resounding 89 percent five points up from its previous 84 percent 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 percent in the area of Legislation while it scored 89.87 percent in Organisation, 78.33 percent in Regulations and 60.98% in Qualified Technical personnel.

In Technical guidance material it scored 88.24 percent and 49.7 percent in approvals and certification while in Surveillance and Rrsolution of safety concern, it had 42.22 percent and 56.76 percent respectively.

Ifeoma Okeke-Korieocha

Ifeoma Okeke-Korieocha is the Aviation Correspondent at BusinessDay Media Limited, publishers of BusinessDay Newspapers. She is also the Deputy Editor, BusinessDay Weekender Magazine, the Saturday Weekend edition of BusinessDay. She holds a BSC in Mass Communication from the prestigious University of Nigeria, Nsukka and a Masters degree in Marketing at the University of Lagos. As the lead writer on the aviation desk, Ifeoma is responsible and in charge of the three weekly aviation and travel pages in BusinessDay and BDSunday. She also overseas and edits all pages of BusinessDay Saturday Weekender. She has written various investigative, features and news stories in aviation and business related issues and has been severally nominated for award in the category of Aviation Writer of the Year by the Nigeria Media Nite-Out awards; one of the Nigeria’s most prestigious media awards ceremonies. Ifeoma is a one-time winner of the prestigious Nigeria Media Merit Award under the 'Aviation Writer of the Year' Category. She is the 2025 Eloy Award winner under the Print Media Journalist category. She has undergone several journalism trainings by various prestigious organisations. Ifeoma is also a fellow of the Female Reporters Leadership Fellowship of the Wole Soyinka Centre for Investigative Journalism.