…..”we must be a competitive employer according to ICAO”
The Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority, NCAA, says, it is working assiduously to engage more safety inspectors to address the dearth of this critical personnel in the agency.
According to NCAA, approval is being sought to employ adequate inspectors for the Authority.
Speaking with newsmen in Lagos, the Director General,NCAA, Capt. Musa Nuhu explained, the Ministry of Aviation and the House Committees in the National Assembly were deeply concerned about this issue and was working with them to address it.
“Apart from the ministry and the minister that are supporting us, the Aviation Committees of the National Assembly through their Chairmen are supporting us”.
“We have explained to them the challenges and the difficulties we are facing and they too have been assisting us in a way through legislation action to help us resolve some of the challenges we are facing. We are a government organization and we must comply with the Public Service Rules in all we do”.
He however, emphasized that on this matter due process must be followed even if they are doing the right thing.
“On the issue of inspectors for NCAA, we are working with the supervising ministry of aviation to see what we can do. We are seeking approval to employ more technical staff, which we have to do”.
“This is government, there are due administrative processes, which we must comply with and follow. Even, if you are doing the right thing, there are due processes you must follow. We are working on it and we are making a significant progress”.
Explaining further, Capt. Nuhu said, the issue of salaries was also critical as the Authority was in competition with private organizations in the system as regards salaries.
He noted that, the ICAO standards and recommended practices documents said that “NCAA must be a competitive employer.”
Capt. Nuhu stated that, as a government organization their hands are tied because they have to work within the confines of the law.
“What that is saying is that the salaries we pay our workers must be competitive in the industry, here, we are a government organization and the industry is privately run, so, you can understand how our hands are tied, but we try and see how we can work through within the confines of the laws to close that gap so that we can attract more personnel to come and work with us”.
