NAMA May Return to the Fold of Beneficiaries from Budgetary Allocation
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- Senator Abiodun Olujimi, Chairperson, Senate Committee on Aviation
National Assembly members have promised to find out the rationale for excluding the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency, NAMA, from the annual budgetary allocation by the federal government.
Aviation committee members of both the Senate, led by its new Chairperson, Senator Abiodun Olujimi, and the Chairman, House of Representatives Committee on Aviation, honourable Nnolim Nnaji, made the promise during an oversight visit to the two agencies’ headquarters in Abuja.
They noted that the rapid growth and improved air safety record attained required all the agencies to continue planning ahead to match the growth with adequate service delivery which surely will require continuous investment in the form of capital-intensive programs in the sector.
Both Chairmen noted that the agencies’ types of equipment often require regular calibration to make them be at top-notch in order to effectively and efficiently discharge their safety-critical functions- economic air navigation, and control.
The Managing Director of the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency, NAMA, Mr. Mathew Pwajok, in his welcome remarks, appreciated the committees of both Chambers of the National Assembly for their interest and concerns on matters affecting the aviation industry.
He acknowledged their swift passage of the six Executive Bills on the industry as a true reflection of their commitment to the progress of the air transport sector in the country.
At the Accident Investigation Bureau-Nigeria, AIB-N, the members of the joint committees were impressed with the progress so far made in the upgrade of facilities and manpower at the bureau which had culminated in the drastic reduction of accidents in the country to the barest minimum.
Honourable Nnaji, the House Committee Chairman stressed that members were impressed that for the past seven years now, the country had not recorded any fatalities apart from the helicopter accident which occurred at Opebi in Lagos in early 2022.
The Commissioner, AIB-N, Engineer Akin Olateru had earlier informed the legislators during his welcome remarks that the drastic reduction in commercial aircraft accidents in the country had brought down significantly, the insurance premiums paid on operating airplanes in Nigeria
According to the Commissioner, the high safety record so far achieved by the country in the last couple of years has reduced the insurance premiums on wide-body aircraft from $800,000 a year to between $150,000 and $200,000.
He also informed the two committees of the National Assembly that the Bureau had set the pace in air safety in Africa by establishing the first training institution for accident investigators on the continent in Abuja, Nigeria.
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