Runway 18R/ 36L theft has minimal impact on ICAO Audit — DG
Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) has described the stealing of approach lighting at Runway 18 Right of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport a fortnight ago as unfortunate and a national embarrassment.
It however said there was a Notice to Airmen (NOTAM) regarding the runway before the theft stating that it was out of use and that was a standard procedure done to ensure the deficiencies the runway was reported.
The regulatory agency is also meeting with airlines, fuel markerters, suppliers over the incident of contaminated aviation fuel and other issues that resulted in the suspension of all B737s in the fleet of Max Air.
Director General Civil Aviation (DG-CA), Captain Musa Nuhu made this known against the backdrop of the much anticipated International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) Audit where he said the impact of the theft may not be significant to the audit because Nigeria had earlier announced the deficiencies of that runway.
The upcoming ICAO audits mirror the aviation safety and aviation security oversight capacities of its 193 Member States through its Universal Safety Oversight Audit Programme (USOAP) and Universal Security Audit Programme (USAP) in the security domain.
The audits according to ICAO are restricted to only the legislation, resources and other capacities which State governments establish in order to effectively implement ICAO’s Standards and Recommended Practices (SARPs) in each area.
Captain Nuhu said, “It’s ( the runway lighting theft) a problem for us, even without the audit it is a problem and we are discussing with the airport operator FAAN to see how measures can be put to prevent this occurrence in the future. It’s not only unfortunate, I think it’s embarrassing for the country for people to carry out such a heinous act.
“As regards to the audit, we have what is called the aeronautical information publication. We also noted that the runway was out of use before this act Runway 18 Right International Airport has been closed for maintenance and there is a NOTAM accordingly.
“Once the NOTAM is out and you let the world know, all operators know that Runway 18 Right Lagos is closed and put in the NOTAM they have no approach lights, that’s it.
“There are procedures for handling such issues and that is being done and NAMA is doing some, we are doing some. There is notification from the AIP Aeronautical Information Publication and also the NOTAMs as long as you do that you are notifying the world of deficiencies within your system and that is it. That takes care of that.
“If you have deficiencies and you do not notify, that’s where you have a problem,” he said.
