The Acting Managing Director, Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA), Mr. Matthew Pwajok, has said that the culture of consistent training of Air Traffic Control (ATC) personnel has positioned the agency to address the challenges faced by this workforce effectively.
This is just as the Director of Operations of the agency, Mr. Haske Jubril, declared that the air traffic management system in Nigeria has become so robust that airlines are struggling to catch up with standards of services provided by the agency.
Pwajok while speaking at a media parley with aviation journalists last Friday, pointed out that there are new airports being constructed across the country to where air traffic control personnel would need to be deployed but that NAMA is already prepared for the emerging responsibilities, even though it is a highly capital intensive venture.
He stated that when Air Peace initiated flights to Makurdi, NAMA personnel were deployed.
Pwajok said: “We have full operations in Bayelsa and Ebonyi Airport hopes to start operations before the end of the year. Damaturu Airport project in Yobe State is also on-going.
“Dangote is building an airstrip to join the network of airstrips in Nigeria. There is an approval for Main field energy airport in Kainji. So, there are over 10 new airports hoping to come on stream.
“Ogun State, Osun State and Zamfara have airports construction projects on-going. All these airports will come with manpower requirements. Just yesterday, October 15, 2022, Ekiti Airport hosted a one-off flight.
Pwajok however noted that three batches of ATC personnel are currently on training in Zaria.
He explained that NAMA has been able to develop a good plan to address ATC workforce challenges, “because we do manpower capacity estimation and manpower gap analysis, because it takes about three years to train ATC personnel.”