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We have capacity to secure airspace – NAMA

By on August 12, 2015

The Nigerian Airspace Management Agency says it has the technical capacity and competence to secure the nation’s airspace over the Gulf of Guinea.

The agency’s acting General Manager, Public Affairs, Mrs. Olajumoke Adetona, told the News Agency of Nigeria that discussions aimed at ensuring a smooth takeover of the country’s airspace of the Gulf of Guinea from Ghana were ongoing.

NAN reports that President Muhammadu Buhari recently directed the nation’s relevant agencies to immediately take over the roles of securing the nation’s Airspace over the Gulf of Guinea from Ghana.

The Gulf of Guinea is the north eastern part of the tropical Atlantic Ocean between Cape Lopez in Gabon, North and West to Cape Three Points in the western region of Ghana.

Among the many rivers that drain into the Gulf of Guinea are the Niger and the Volta. The coastline on the gulf includes the Bight of Benin and the Bight of Bonny. The Niger River, in particular, had deposited organic sediments into the sea, spanning millions of years, which have now developed into crude oil.

Adetona told NAN on the telephone on Monday that a series of meetings between Nigeria and Ghana were ongoing in Dakar, the capital of Senegal, and in Ghana to ensure a smooth takeover.

He said, “Discussions and meeting are ongoing among the relevant stakeholders in Dakar, Senegal and in Ghana. They are working on the modalities that will lead to a smooth takeover. This issue is not something new in the industry but President Muhammadu Buhari only gave us the go-ahead to ensure the process is smooth and quickened.

“We don’t need to buy any airspace equipment for the area. It is still the same airspace equipment such as communication, navigation and surveillance facilities that will be deployed when the process is completed. The agency doesn’t need to acquire any airspace equipment for us to provide airspace service in the Gulf of Guinea.

“It doesn’t have to do with airspace equipment because prior to the meeting we had with the President, there had been a series of meetings with our partners and the Ghana Civil Aviation Authority.”

Asked whether the agency was capable of the task, Adetona said that the President would not have initiated the process if the agency was incapable of handling the territory for the country.

“NAMA is very much capable and the President will not have given us the go-ahead to start the process of securing the security of the airspace in the territory. Nigeria only wants to take over what belongs to it. This will commence as soon as the process is completed. I can’t say exactly the specific period the territory will be taken over but I know that discussions are in top gear,” she said.

 

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