In order to address a labor crisis in the aviation sector, the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA) may need N2.5 billion to send 120 air traffic controllers to Egypt, Morocco, South Africa, and Singapore to receive an education.
In an exclusive interview with LEADERSHIP yesterday, the secretary-general of the Aviation Round Table (ART), Group Capt. John Ojikutu (rtd), claimed that educating ATCs in the above-mentioned countries will be less expensive than in the US and Europe.
NAMA has decried the lack of air traffic controllers, claiming that the situation has forced the organization to hire non-technical employees and retirees to fill in the gap. An ATC, Aniekan Effiong Inuk, died on duty at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport in Abuja on November 22, 2021, as a result of the manpower shortage.
When it comes to closing the industry’s gaps, Ojikutu claims that NAMA has dealt with a lack of ATCs since 2007, as evidenced by the ministerial committee on safety recommendations implementation’s report.
While the shortage of staff was documented at 300 in 2007, the gap will now be more than twice as great, with funds supposedly used to train ATCs were set aside to reimburse Katsina, Gombe, and Bayelsa for the construction of their respective airports.
Ojikutu questioned the amount of air traffic and passengers at several state-owned airports in relation to the population of the state that justified their existence. He encouraged the federal government to prevent state governments from constructing airports for political purposes if there are no financial advantages.
