… NCAA promises certification process is underway
The Nigerian Aviation Fire and Safety has appealed to the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority, NCAA, to certify the aircraft fire simulator domiciled in the Nigerian College of Aviation Technology, NCAT, Zaria to enhance the training of fire personnel.
The Association believes the Simulator which is one of the best in the world has the propensity to generate huge revenue for the country, aside utilizing it for Firefighters Competency Trainings.
In an appeal to the Acting Director General, Civil Aviation, Capt. Chris Najomo during a courtesy visit by the executives of NAFSA led by its President, comrade Sunday Ugbeikwu, described the aircraft simulator in Nigeria as Multi-Purpose and a super machine as opposed to what Firefighters were hitherto exposed to in ERSI/ASECNA Douala, Cameroon.
He urged the DGCA to use his good office and ensure that the Simulator is certified for use by Firefighters to commence their Competency Trainings at NCAT the only NCAA/ICAO Certified and Approved Training Organization (ATO) in Zaria where the machine is situated.
On the recent aircraft occurrences, the NAFSA National President, expressed deep concern as he said, they portend imminent danger to the aviation sector, if left unchecked.
He called on the ADGCA to ensure that the concerned agencies saddled with the responsibilities of compliance and implementation of the Safety Recommendations recently released by the Nigerian Safety and Investigation Bureau(NSIB) should comply and implement same.
According to him, safety recommendations are meant to be implemented and not to be kept for reference purposes only.
He further emphasized that if Nigeria is to get it right in the aviation sector which is globally regulated by the International Civil Aviation Authority (ICAO), then things have to be done differently and correctly, as the repetition of the same old (wrong) procedures will deny the industry the desired progress.
Responding, the ADGCA, Capt. Chris Najomo praised NAFSA for pushing hard to ensure that the Simulator works and
promised to continue to push to ensure that whatever is left for the Simulator to be certified will be fixed for the optimal utilization of the facility by the Firefighters.
He added that the NCAA Team assigned to carry out the certification are still working on the issues to make sure all certification requirements are met with a mix of short and long term Corrective Action Plans that the NCAT submitted and NCAA has accepted.
He asserted that the certification is at its final stages and expressed the Authority’s willingness to collaborate with NAFSA and work together for the betterment of the aviation sector.
Capt. Chris Najomo said, the NCAA would continue to ensure that the Safety Recommendations released by the NSIB would be implemented accordingly in line with international best practices and ICAO Specifications.
He further indicated that there is an established committee, drawn from the NSIB and NCAA, set up specifically to follow up on all open safety recommendations.
