NCAA set to amend Nigeria’s civil aviation regulations

The Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), on Monday, began a process to a major amendment of the nation’s civil aviation regulations.

To this end, it conveyed a stakeholders’ workshop where contributions and presentations were supposed to be reviewed with a view to amending the existing laws.

Muhktar Usman, director-general, NCAA, said the International Civil Aviation Authority (ICAO) had changed some laws; therefore, Nigeria needed to domesticate them in a bid to conform to international standards.

“First of all, I will like to say that aviation is very dynamic. There have been a lot of changes and in order to keep up with those changes, especially as regards the documentation that we are supposed to adopt and use here in Nigeria from the ICAO, we have to amend some regulations.

“There have been a lot of changes and we are now bringing our regulations to be in line with those changes that have taken place. It is a continuous exercise and this one is a major one, but we do it continuously anytime there are changes we update. But this is the first major amendment since promulgation of the regulations.

“Of course, when you are using any document, you test it and after sometimes, where you see the need to amend, and it is very normal since the regulation is meant for the stakeholders that are here as you can see. We need to bring them in to make their own inputs because the regulation is not for us but for the stakeholders and for safe and efficient air traffic flow in Nigeria,” he said.

According to Binta Bello, permanent secretary, Ministry of Aviation, all amendments to the ICAO Standards and Recommended Practices contained in Annexes 1 to 19 are required to be domesticated for Nigeria to continue to enjoy the pride of place in the comity of nations, as Economic Regulations and Consumers Protections Regulations are also to be amended to conform to international best practices.

She called on stakeholders to work round the clock in preparation for the next audit to be conducted by ICAO on the nation’s aviation safety.

“All hands must be on deck to ensure a very successful outing for Nigeria in the upcoming ICAO Universal Safety Oversight Programme (USOAP) Audit, which is scheduled to hold in March 2016. The amendment of the Nigeria Civil Aviation Regulations in order to bring it up to date with recent ICAO amendments is an integral step towards the success of the Audit,” she said.