By Chinedu Eze
The International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) has pledged to support Nigeria to improve safety standards in air transport and to consolidate on what the country has achieved so far in that area.
The pledge was made by the President of ICAO Council, Dr. Bernard Olumuyiwa Aliu, when he visited heads of aviation parastatals in Lagos at the weekend and promised that the international body would support Nigeria in the certification of the two major airports in the country, the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Lagos and the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, which are already being prepared to meet global safety and security standards for the certification.
Aliu, who held high level talks with all aviation parastatal chiefs at the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) headquarters at Lagos airport, listened to briefings from the agency CEOs
Other issues discussed at the meeting included the conclusion of the certification of MMIA and the Abuja airport at the end of September 2017.
They also discussed issues concerning search and rescue summit coming up in Togo; cyber security, manpower, upgrade of equipment; succession plan among others.
Aliu congratulated the new CEOs on their appointments and also promised to provide necessary assistance where possible.
He arrived Lagos last Thursday night in company of the Director General of the NCAA, Capt. Muhtar Usman, from Accra, Ghana, where he had earlier attended a safety conference en route United Arab Emirates (UAE).
According to him, he decided to stop over in Nigeria to acquaint himself with the new changes in the headship of aviation agencies in the sector.
NCAA in a statement issued by its spokesman, Sam Adurogboye, said ICAO, through its numerous interventions, was already assisting Nigeria in several areas including the ongoing certification of Lagos and Abuja airports.
