The director general of the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), Capt Musa Nuhu has said that the agency will not be a Father Christmas on matters concerning the issuance or renewal of air operator certificate (AOC) to any applicant.
He said in a statement that NCAA will not compromise in the enforcement of safety standards, regulatory requirements and SARPs in conformity with all regulatory requirements and ICAO’s Standards and Recommended Practices (SARPs) in the initial issuance and renewal of all AOCs irrespective of the personality or/and organisation involved.
The NCAA, according to him, will continue to operate within its mandate to the safe, secure and efficiency of the industry as enshrined in the 2006 Civil Aviation ACT.
Musa was reacting to statements credited to the chief executive officer of TAL Helicopters, Mr. Femi Adeniji, wherein he alleged that the NCAA is a hotbed of corruption in the issuance of AOCs.
He contended that AOCs in some countries like the United States AOCs are for life unless such an airline has issues, which grounds its operations for years.
“The system is completely corrupt. I would give you an example, I have two friends who wanted to invest, Americans who wanted to invest in this country, build their own private airport accessible to the state, the answer I got from Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria and Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority is that one of them should go and bring N35 million.
“I have a very strong relationship with Boeing Aerospace. They are now in Ghana and I am talking of four months ago. They were trying to come in here and they said sorry, we cannot contribute when we are trying to create employment they are making life difficult for us,” he said.
Adeniji frowned at the one-size-fits-all approach in the regulation and called for an overhaul for true development to take place.
But Nuhu countered Adeniji’s allegation saying TAL fell short in meeting the requirements for the renewal the AOC as it currently does not have three out of the four key nominated post holders.
The missing key personnel, according to Nuhu, are the director of maintenance, director of flight operations and chief pilot.
In addition, he said, the company was yet to comply with COVID-19 Industry Restart Programme like the other industry players did before receiving approval to resume operations.
“TAL’s AOC will be renewed when these requirements have been satisfactorily met,” he said.
The director general further stated that the 5 Phase AOC process (both initial and renewal) is not peculiar to Nigeria saying it is an ICAO requirement (ICAO Annex 6 Parts I and III and ICAO Document 8335) which is captured in Nig.CARS 2015 Part 9 on AOC Certification.
“These strict regulations are to ensure only qualified applicants are granted AOC. This is one of the main reasons Nigeria attained FAA IASA Category 1 in the first instance.
“Nig.CARS 2015 was established with the participation and consultation of all industry stakeholders and must be complied with to the full extent until such a time there is a review of the regulations.
“This is the reason for the name Nigerian Civil Regulations (Nig.CARS) rather than NCAA Regulations,” Nuhu said.
The director general further said the manufacturers recommendations as alluded to by TAL’s chief operating officer are just “recommendations” which can neither override nor replace regulations based on ICAO SARPS and Annexes.
“No manufacturer has the authority to issue an extension approval without the knowledge and approval of civil aviation authorities which ultimately responsible for the safety of flight operations.
Extensions are the prerogative of CAAs period. During a Certificate of Airworthiness Inspection of the operator’s AW139 Helicopter with registration 5N-BVQ in June 2020, it was discovered that the machine was being operated with a component (Tank Foam) that was overdue for replacement.
“A review of the records showed that the OEM, Leonardo Helicopters had supplied TAL with all replacements KITS and advised the operator to contact NCAA for extension.
“NCAA was neither contacted for an extension nor was the tank foam replaced.
“An enforcement action was taken by the issuance of a Letter of Investigation (LOI) and the requirement of compliance with OEM’s recommendations.
“The maintenance repairs and replacement of the tank Foam was performed by Aero Contractors and some serious defects were identified and fixed,” Nuhu added.
The director general also expressed dismay at Adeniji’s insinuation of corruption in the system.
“If Mr. Adeniji has any evidence of either corruption or any corrupt practices he should file a complaint with the relevant authorities for investigations and follow-up actions rather than casting questionable doubts in the public fora on the credibility of the authority.
It is also sad the chief operating officer of TAL took it upon himself to illegally record the official discussion with an NCAA staff for reasons best known to him; this matter was resolved at a police station with Mr. Adeniji giving an unreserved apology,” he said.
Nevertheless, Nuhu admitted that the agency is not a perfect entity and has its own peculiar challenges and difficulties like all organisations.
