Air Traffic Controllers (ATC) have decried the deplorable conditions at the airport control towers across the nation’s airports including Katsina, Kano, Sokoto and Calabar among other aerodromes saying that no airport in the country has up to 80 percent functioning equipment
They disclosed that the country needs no fewer than 650 controllers nationwide to meet the needs of existing and new airports popping up. The Nigeria Airspace Management Agency (NAMA) employs over 4000 staff of which the core professionals are less than 400, which they say is inadequate to meet present needs.
President of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association (NATCA), Abayomi Agoro, alongside his team revealed these in a press briefing, disclosed the lack of a control tower at the Kaduna Airport to lack of a urinary system at the Katsina control tower and failed equipment in Kano stressing that ATCs bear the brunt of the dilapidated system.
He said, “The working environment is becoming deplorable. Some airports do not even have functioning equipment. Kaduna does not have a control tower, what they are using there is a watch room (for firefighters) which is not built for that purpose and we have been calling on the government to do something, we go to Sokoto, once it rains, controllers will go to look for umbrellas to sit at the control tower.
“Some of the control towers attached to the terminal buildings were ceded to the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) while those standing alone were with NAMA but we have approached the two organizations. just like the lift too, NAMA waits for FAAN to put the lift in order. All these happen as s result of bureaucracy and controllers bear the brunt.
“We are still battling with terrestrial radio frequency and communication. Calabar also had its own challenges. No airport has all the needed equipment.”
Also speaking, deputy vice president NATCA, Ahmed Adamu Bello expressed dismay at the working conditions in Katsina airport.
For Katsina airport, Bello said there was no system to answer nature’s call unless the ATC left the building which would be a breach of professional ethics.
Bello said,” In Katsina, we have a one-man watch and there is no restroom. He is a human being and may feel the need to urinate at some point and if he descends from the tower, it is a breach of his professional ethics. So, what do you expect that person to do?”
On Kano, he said,” Kano has a fine building but facilities inside is a failure. We are angry because if the system demands I put my whole life into it, I expect the system to provide me with the working tools to be able to do that.”
According to the NATCA President, the Federal Government is allocating money, NAMA also generates money but said he was confused as to where these monies are going as nothing is being touched or improved upon in the towers.
On staff strength of ATCs nationwide and the impending workload Agoro said it was shameful that NAMA could not employ core professionals in the critical areas who are needed to do the job stating that even as there is a lack of ATCs, redundant staff are sitting while collecting money for doing nothing.
Agoro said,” We should have at least 600 to 650 ATCs because you cannot leave one controller on duty in the tower, it is dangerous.
He said Kaduna for instance has less than six ATCs yet NAMA has close to 4,000 staff.
