The Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo SAN. On Wednesday met with the visiting team of the International Civil Aviation Organisation in Abuja.
While welcoming the Team, the Minister extolled the virtues of ICAO in the international aviation industry. “Nigeria no doubt recognizes the role of ICAO, which is aimed at constantly addressing and enhancing global aviation safety through coordinated activities.
“It is noted that the mission you embarked upon to Nigeria is a very important one aimed at promoting global civil aviation safety through monitoring Contracting States’ safety oversight capabilities and improving their systems.”
According to a statement by Tunde Moshood, the ICAO visit is precipitated by the much-awaited audit of the nation’s airports and the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority-NCCA for the Universal Safety Oversight Audit Programme (USOAP).
Keyamo said, “Nigeria is fully aware that ensuring a safe, secure, efficient and environmentally-friendly civil aviation system, with modern and adequate infrastructure, requires adequately funded autonomous Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) and an Independent National Safety Investigation Bureau (NSIB), together with well- established aviation service providers.
“Nigeria is not new to audits, no stone was left unturned in the preparation for this audit to ensure a significant rise in the effective implementation of all the safety functional areas.” Safety remains Nigeria’s priority, non-negotiable, and it supersedes all other civil aviation considerations, ” he emphasized.
Being his first working visit to the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, the Minister was led on a tour of several departments of the NCAA office by the Director General of NCAA, Capt. Musa Shuaibu Nuhu, and he was also at the Prof Mansur Bako Matazu-led Nigerian Meteorological Agency-NiMET, where he was a guest presenter on Weather Forcast.
. TheWitness
