Murtala Mohammed International Airport Lagos

The International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) on Monday said that Nigeria had excelled in its recently-concluded Universal Safety Oversight Audit Programme (USOAP).

This is contained in a statement issued by the General Manager, Public Relations, Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), Mr Sam Adurogboye, in Lagos.

The four-man ICAO team, led by Mr Jean-Claude Waffo, had arrived Nigeria on March 13, to assess the country’s aviation industry.

The statement said the auditors, in their preliminary report, commended Nigeria for the progress and development being made in the sector.

“Each member gave an individual assessment of all the delineated areas. These are: Legislation (LEG), Organisation (ORG), Accident and Incident Investigation (AIG), Air Navigational Services (ANS) and Aerodrome and Ground Aids (AGA).

“During the presentation, the team leader and the members articulated all their systemic findings in the course of the 11-day USOAP Audit conducted in Nigeria.

“While there were areas that were identified as open items that needed to be closed, the Auditors were unanimously very satisfied with the level of improvement in the aviation industry in Nigeria.

“The auditors were highly impressed with the stellar preparation for the audit by all concerned and claimed that this made the exercise a huge success.’’

According to the statement, the final report will be produced and sent to Canada for review and final assent, after comments on the draft report have been received from Nigeria.
The statement quoted Waffo as saying that the draft results would be produced 90 days after the presentation.

It said that, therafter, Nigeria was expected to produce a Corrective Action Plan (CAP) which would provide room for comments and observations within 45 days.

“The final report is only to be expected and produced after 30 days of receipt and acknowledgement of comments,’’ it quoted Waffo as saying.

The statement said that at the end of the presentation, the auditors thanked the Director-General, NCAA, Capt. Muhtar Usman, and all the Chief Executives of the aviation parastatals.