“No Airport In Nigeria Is Fully Certified” – NCAA

The Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) says no
airport in the country is fully certified.
At a senate public hearing on recent developments in the
nation's aviation sector, the Director of Aerodrome in the
Agency, Mr Joyce Nkemakolam also added that over 25
airlines have been registered for operation in the country.
The public hearing also revealed that one of the airlines has
a plane that is 43 years old.
According to investigation, the Nigerian Civil Aviation
Authority (NCAA) is yet to certify any of the 22 airports in
the country because the airports have been unable to meet
the requirements on the regulator's checklist particularly in
the area of security and safety in the last 20 years. The
NCAA has never certified any airport in the country since
2006, when the law that gave it autonomy to certify airports
in line with international regulations was promulgated and
none of the airports in the country was certified before
NCAA's autonomy.
The security aspect has to do with control of access to the
airport's sterile areas or airside and the security of other
major points like the catering departments, boarding gates,
check-in points and perimeter fencing. The safety aspect, on
the other hand, has to do with runway light, taxi way light,
approach light, fire station and airport emergency response
system, among others.
The essence of airport certification is to ascertain if there
are enough personnel and equipment that can guarantee
safety and security in any airport. But it was gathered that
though the airports in the country had been given the
checklist applicable globally, the Federal Airports Authority
of Nigeria was yet to comply with the requirements on the
checklist, especially the 'open items.'