Officials of the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA) and Nigerian College of Aviation Technology (NCAT), Zaria are reviewing a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on personal training to give it tonic.
The MoU, drafted at NAMA headquarters in Lagos, covers areas such as course duration, deployment of NAMA staff to NCAT, review of school fees, accommodation facilities and training to reflect practical field experience.
At a meeting of the officials, NAMA Director of Operations, Uzoma Fyneboy, commended NCAT for providing high level manpower to drive aviation in Nigeria.
He also expressed confidence that the updated MoU would chart a new course for training schedules and also clear other grey areas of the training relationship.
NCAT delegation leader and Deputy Rector, Joseph Achimugu, canvassed for “a better work synergy between NAMA and NCAT as this would ultimately raise the bar of aviation safety in the country.”
In a related development, NAMA has commenced another round of training of air traffic controllers (ATCs) and engineers at the Lagos Area Control Centre ahead of the Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Contract/Controller-Pilot Data Link Communication (ADS-C/CPDLC) billed for deployment this month.
The three-day training at the NCAA Training Hall, Murtala Mohammed International Airport, Lagos sensitised staff on the installation and usage of the facility.
It was also attended by staff of other aviation agencies and stakeholders.
NAMA Managing Director, Ibrahim Abdulsalam, said the decision to deploy ADS-C/CPDLC in Nigeria falls in line with the vision of being a leading ANSP in the world through modern technologies for communication, navigation, surveillance and air traffic management in the Nigerian airspace.
NAMA’s efforts at developing Nigeria’s ATM and airspace are meant to safely and effectively accommodate more flight operations as aviation has witnessed remarkable growth and structural expansion.
ADS-C/CPDLC is being deployed in Lagos and Kano to cover the entire Nigerian airspace as well as remote continental and oceanic airspace to provide capacity for satellite based communication and satellite based surveillance in and outside the Nigerian airspace.
Macauley Onyeneke, who represented NCAA Director General, Muhtar Usman, said the agency places high premium on the success of the CPDLC project as shown by the large turnout of its staff for the training.
To him, it is imperative for Nigeria to key into the CPDLC since it is surrounded by ASECNA countries which have deployed the technology.
