BEVERLY HILLS, March 22, (THEWILL) –Â ANTHONY OKECHUKWU, in this piece, looks at major hurdles the newly- appointed Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) of the Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NIMET), Nigerian College of Aviation Technology (NCAT) and Accident Investigation Bureau, Nigeria (AIB-N), will face in their agencies.
Recently, the Federal Government appointed new CEOs for Aviation Agencies that will pilot their affairs for the next three years.
President Muhammadu Buhari confirmed the appointment of Professor Bako Mansur Matazu as the new Director-General of the Nigeria Meteorological Agency (NIMET) and Captain Modibbo Alkali Mahmud as the new Rector of the Nigerian College of Aviation Technology, (NCAT) Zaria. The reappointment of Engr. Akin Olateru as the Commissioner /Chief Executive Officer of the Accident Investigation Bureau, Nigeria was also approved.
Announcing the new appointments, The Federal Government stated that the changes were in line with the administration’s commitment to the implementation of the Aviation Development Roadmap. Records have, however, shown that the new helmsmen are all experienced professionals with wealth of industry experience, spanning decades.
For instance, Prof Matazu, who replaces Professor Sani Abubakar Mash, holds a PhD in Geography (Applied Meteorology), with membership of the Nigerian Environmental Society, African Forestry Forum, Nigerian Meteorological Society, the Climate Change Network, Nigeria and the renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency, Nigeria (REEN). He was, until his appointment, the General Manager, Meteorological Research in the Agency.
On his own part, Captain Modibbo Alkali Mahmud, the new Rector of NCAT, holds the Airline Transport Pilot Licenses of the Federal Aviation Administration, USA, the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), Embraer, Citation and other international professional certifications. Until his appointment, Captain Modibbo had served in various capacities, including Pilot in Training, Fleet Captain at Dornier Aviation Nigeria, Max Air and other organisations and has clocked about 6000 hours of flying career.
Engr. Olateru, an Aircraft Maintenance Engineer with Nigerian, UK and USA licenses began his career in engineering maintenance with Pan African Airlines and the Nigerian Police Air Wing after which he left Nigeria for further studies abroad. He has also worked with multiple airlines in Europe including KLM, Martin Air in Holland, British Aerospace Engineering and British Midland Airways.
He attended City University, London and graduated with an M.Sc. in Air Transport Management with specialisations in research and simulations into accident investigations.
Despite their robust experience and knowledge of the aviation industry, each of the CEOs is bound to face some hurdles in their new posts. One major issue the new NIMET DG, Prof Bako Mansur Matazu, will face is the inadequacy of Nigeria’s weather observatory stations which is about 54 now. The density of Nigeria’s stations are extremely low. It is therefore expected that within the time Matazu will spend as DG, he will ensure that the density of stations is increased adequately.
As it stands, the enabling law establishing the agency is a bit weak in some respects. This legal framework needs to be strengthened, so that NIMET will be able to boost its revenue base through efficient provision of meteorological services to both private and public organisations. It is therefore germane for the new DG to work out enabling laws, developmental policies, and the political will to enforce them.
Not only should there be developmental and enabling laws to govern the agency, they will have to enforce those laws is essential. This is because the aviation industry is one which should be highly regulated and monitored to attain the utmost safety, which must be achieved with integrity and no compromise in any manner.
NIMET is ISO Certified 2015. The ISO is an international organisation that monitors what manufacturers, service providers and development partners are doing and ensure that they offer goods and services that are up to certain specified standards. Sustainance of such standard is one area that the new DG needs to uphold.
Others are funding, training, mobilemet project and security in terms of facilities that would be hosted at the numerous observatory stations across the country. As aviation agencies, NIMET challenges are not however, different from NCAT as Captain Modibbo Alkali has to also face the inadequacy of funding, training equipment and other infrastructural facilities.
More important is that NCAT has been granted the Regional Training Centre of Excellence (RTCE) status by the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) few years ago. The new status gives the college the opportunity to train critical manpower in the aviation sector, not only in Nigeria but within the West African sub-region and beyond.
The regional training centre status also empowers NCAT to develop training programmes for all ICAO annexes. This entails development of training programmes in aerodromes, air transport, facilitation, environment safety and security.
Apart from the RTCE status, NCAT has grown in number of students over the years. From about 600 students in 2011, the figure has gone up and it cuts across different schools including: the flying school, the AME School, ATE School, Engineering School and the ATSCOM School under one umbrella. In addition, NCAT has to fix the problem of accommodation since it already has a policy that stipulates certain categories of students must be accommodated in the college.
For example, students in AME School, Engineering school, ATSCOM School and Flying School must be accommodated in the college. This limits the number of students NCAT can take at any given time due to a lot of logistics. Even having the accommodation, the college is still restricted by law because the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority is maintaining the safety oversight of the college.
On the other hand, stakeholders in the nation’s aviation industry have applauded the reappointment of Engr Olateru as AIB commissioner having given his best during his first tenure.
So far, AIB-N has released a total of about 57 final reports since its establishment in 2007 and a total of 35 final reports, including Safety Bulletins have been released since the inception of the current administration of Engr Olateru. Having done well in accident investigations in Air Transport, one key area that Olateru has to contend with is the proposed Nigeria Safety Investigation Bureau (NSIB) Bill.
The Bureau had earlier called for the establishment of the Nigeria Safety Investigation Bureau (NSIB), an independent unified body charged with the responsibilities of carrying out investigation of occurrences involving all modes of transportation with the aim of promoting and enhancing safe transportation in Nigeria.
When passed into Law, the NSIB Bill, which is currently before the National Assembly, would put the agency on its toes to reinforce safety in all modes of transportation in Nigeria through distinctive, efficient and effective investigations of accidents and serious incidents involving any of the mode of transportation within Nigeria or anywhere else Nigeria’s interest is affected.
