NCAA unfolds Nigeria’s safety policy statement

IN compliance to global safety standard, the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) has unveiled the Nigeria’s State Safety Policy Statement, signed by the Director General, Captain Muhtar Usman.

According to NCAA, this had been done in compliance with the requirements of the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) Annex 19 on Safety Management, which was adopted by the ICAO Council on the 25th of February 2013, but became effective on the 14th of November, 2013.

In a statement by the authority in Lagos recently, it said that the Chapter 3 of the Annex requires each contracting state to establish a State Safety Programme (SSP) for the management of safety in that state, adding that this shall be done in order to achieve an Acceptable Level of Safety Performance (ALoSP) in civil aviation.

It noted that the requirement for SSP recognises that States as well as service providers have safety responsibilities. The SSP therefore provides a framework within which Service Providers are required to establish a Safety Management System (SMS), said NCAA.

Furthermore, it added that ICAO Global Aviation Safety Plan (GASP) recognizes the importance of the establishment and maintenance of fundamental safety oversight systems as a prerequisite to the full implementation of an SSP and calls for those States with mature safety oversight systems to progress toward full implementation of SSP.

It is required that states that have achieved Effective Implementation (EI) levels of over 60 per cent should fully implement State Safety Programme (SSP) by 2017. Nigeria has achieved 72.1 per cent implementation level during the past ICAO USOAP Audit of 2006.This is well above the required implementation level, it stated.

Meanwhile, the Director General has formally inaugurated an eleven-member State Safety Programme Implementation Unit on the 4th of August 2015.

The SSP Implementation Unit is to initiate the SSP processes and develop the platform for the implementation of the SSP in Nigeria.

Chapter 3 of ICAO Annex 19 on Safety Management and the Nigerian Civil Aviation Regulations (Nig. CARs), 2009 Parts 3, 6, 9, 12 and 14 state that as part of its SSP, each Contracting State shall require Service Providers to implement a Safety Management System (SMS).

The Service Providers are Approved Training Organisations (ATO) in line with Annex 1, who are exposed to safety risks related to aircraft operations during the provision of their services.

Others are Air Operators Certificate (AOC) Holders, Approved Maintenance Organisations (AMO), Air Traffic (ATC) service providers, operators of Certified Aerodromes and the General Aviation operators of large or turbojet aeroplanes.

Therefore the policy statement is expected to provide guidance to all stakeholders to ensure improvement in safety management and practices including safety reporting within the civil aviation industry.

In the Safety Policy Statement, Nigeria’s commitment is to:
Develop national standards, general rulemaking and specific operational policies on safety management principles in line with Standards, Recommended Practices, Procedures of International Civil Aviation Organization and also on a comprehensive analysis of Nigeria aviation systems;

Adopt a data-driven and performance-based approach to safety regulation and industry oversight responsibilities where appropriate;