Nigeria has excelled in the just concluded International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) Universal Safety Audit Program Continuous Monitoring Approach (USOAP)-CMA scoring 70 per cent.
This was three per cent higher than the last audit carried out in 2016.
Daily Trust reports that the ICAO’s USOAP focuses on a state’s capability to provide safety oversight by assessing whether the state has implemented the critical elements (CEs) of a safety oversight system effectively and consistently.
This enables the state to ensure the implementation of ICAO’s safety-related Standards and Recommended Practices (SARPs) and associated procedures and guidance material with a view to improving aviation safety.
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The audit took place between August 30 and September 11 with the ICAO team assessing all the aviation agencies.
The breakdown of some of the audit reports in Effective Implementation ( EI) shows the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) in Legislation scored 90%, a reduction from the 95% it scored in the last audit while it scored 83% in Organisation compared to its 100% score last time around.
In Personnel Licencing, the CAA scored 84% while it scored 62% in operations compared to its last score of 57%.
For Airworthiness the CAA scored 94% compared to its previous 90% in the last audit.
In accident investigation, the Nigerian Safety Investigation Bureau (NSIB) scored 89% five points up from its previous 84% score.
In the area of Aerodrome and Ground Aids, the country scored 56% while for Air Navigation Services it scored 44%.
The audit report for the eight Critical Elements CE-1 Legislation, CE-2: Organisation, CE-3: Regulations, CE-4: Qualified Technical personnel; CE-5: Technical guidance material, CE-6: Approvals and certification, CE-7: Surveillance and CE-8: Resolution of safety concern was also available.
The NCAA maintained its last score of 89.66% in the area of Legislation while it scored 89.87% in Organisation, 78.33% in Regulations and 60.98% in Qualified Technical personnel.
In Technical guidance material, it scored 88.24% and 49.7% in Approvals and certification while in Surveillance and Resolution of safety concerns, it scored 42.22% and 56.76% respectively.
However, Nigeria is expected to close the gaps observed in the course of the audit within the next few months.
Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Mr Festus Keyamo (SAN), had recently emphasized the commitment of the industry to safety.
“Whilst Nigeria is not new to audits, no stone was left unturned in the preparation for this audit, to ensure a significant rise in the effective implementation of all the safety functional areas.
“Safety remains Nigeria’s priority, non-negotiable and it supersedes all other considerations for civil aviation”, he had said.