The International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) Wednesday began its Coordinated Validation Mission (ICVM) team to the Federal Republic of Nigeria through the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA).
The mission represented a critical milestone in Nigeria’s journey towards attaining global excellence in aviation safety oversight.
The ICAO ICVM is an on-site, evidence-based audit designed to validate a state’s compliance with aviation safety standards and confirm the effectiveness of corrective actions (CAPs) taken to fix previously identified deficiencies
As a follow-up to the ICAO USOAP-CMA audit, conducted from August to September 2023, in which Nigeria recorded an Effective Implementation (EI) score of 70.12 per cent, NCAA have remained resolute and steadfast in its commitment to improving Nigeria aviation safety oversight capabilities.
In his welcome address, the Director General, Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), Capt. Chris Najomo, noted that the agency took the audit findings in good faith and with the utmost seriousness that they deserved by conducting root cause analysis and promptly developing comprehensive Corrective Action Plans (CAPs) to address identified deficiencies.
He stated: “I am pleased to note that these CAPs were subsequently validated by ICAO, providing us with a clear roadmap for implementation.”
“The implementation of these corrective actions, alongside our traditional safety oversight responsibilities, Najomo asserted, included, but are not limited to, the following:
“We actualized the deployment of EMPIC as the regulatory software for the Authority, specifically in the automation of personnel licensing and aeromedical processes.
” The Authority’s agreement with EMPIC will initially address four modules and the full operationalization is scheduled for May, 2026.
“Nigeria had within this period entered into an agreement with NorthWest Data Solution for the deployment of the SMS Pro software as the digital software to entrench the centralization and digitalization of our safety data reporting and management system, ensuring compliance with the ICAO Annex 19 requirements on a Safety Data Collection and Processing System (SDCPS).”
Najomo stressed that in fulfilling their responsibility under ICAO Critical Element 4 on qualified technical personnel, more than 100 flight operations and airworthiness inspectors underwent training on special authorisation procedures at an EASA-approved training institution in Comiso, Italy and another training organization in Dubai, UAE.
In furtherance to this, he noted that some inspectors are currently undergoing On-the-Job Training (OJT), coordinated under an MoU with the Rwandan Civil Aviation Authority to qualify these inspectors on specialized authorisations.