LAGOS, NIGERIA — The National Association of Air Traffic Engineers (NAAE) has urged the Federal Government to strengthen national air navigation system for ensuring the safe, orderly, and efficient movement of aircraft within Nigeria’s sovereign airspace.

In a statement by Engr. Selzing Miri, President NAAE, Engr. Muhammadu Shuaibi General Secretary of the association, disclosed that issues currently confronting Nigerian Airspace Management Authority (NAMA) were largely attributable to inadequate investment in infrastructure, insufficient reinvestment of internally generated revenue, delayed funding for critical projects, increasing operational demands, manpower shortages, and the rising cost of maintaining sophisticated CNS/ATM systems in compliance with ICAO Standards and Recommended Practices (SARPs).

The body noted that instead of privatisation as being called from some quarters, the Federal Government should pursue reforms that strengthen NAMA’s institutional capacity and operational efficiency.

NAAE among other things, called on the Federal Government to grant NAMA greater financial and operational autonomy to enable faster decision-making and implementation of safety-critical projects, stop excessive deductions from the Agency’s Internally Generated Revenue (IGR), allowing those funds to be reinvested in modernising air navigation infrastructure, increase capital investment for the replacement of obsolete Communication, Navigation and Surveillance equipment, deployment of emerging technologies, cybersecurity enhancement, resilient backup systems, and digital transformation of Nigeria’s airspace management architecture.

It further called for Prioritising continuous training, certification, licensing, and retraining of Air Traffic Safety Electronics Personnel (ATSEPs), Air Traffic Controllers, Aeronautical Information Service Officers, and other aviation professionals whose competence directly impacts aviation safety.

NAAE also demanded Improved staff welfare, professional allowances, remuneration, and career progression to reduce the growing migration of highly skilled aviation professionals to foreign organisations.

Others, include, recruiting additional technical personnel to address manpower shortages and ensure effective succession planning, providing predictable and sustainable funding for maintenance, spare parts procurement, calibration, and modernization of safety-critical systems.

“Experience across the world demonstrates that the most successful Air Navigation Service Providers are those that enjoy financial stability, operational independence, sound corporate governance, and sustained government support.

“Whether structured as government agencies, autonomous public corporations, or not-for-profit organizations, they all place safety, reliability, and national interest above commercial profit,” he said.

NAAE further urged the government to focus on empowering NAMA rather than weakening it, adding that the Association was particularly concerned that privatisation of critical air navigation infrastructure could compromise long-term investment planning, increase user charges, weaken service delivery to less commercially attractive locations, reduce government control over strategic national assets, and expose critical aviation infrastructure to commercial pressures that are inconsistent with the overriding objective of aviation safety.

It stated NAMA has continued to discharge its statutory responsibilities despite enormous financial and operational constraints saying that Nigerian Air Traffic Safety Electronics Personnel, Air Traffic Controllers, and other aviation professionals have consistently demonstrated exceptional professionalism in ensuring that Nigeria maintains one of Africa’s largest and busiest airspaces safely.

According to the association, the solution is not to privatise the agency but to empower it, believing that if the Federal Government granted NAMA full operational and financial autonomy, would permit the Agency to retain and reinvest a substantial proportion of its internally generated revenue, strengthens corporate governance, modernises infrastructure, and prioritises staff development and welfare, NAMA will become one of Africa’s leading Air Navigation Service Providers.

“We call on the Federal Government, the National Assembly, aviation regulators, labour unions, professional bodies, industry stakeholders, and the Nigerian public to reject calls for the privatisation of Nigeria’s air navigation services”

“Nigeria’s airspace is a strategic national asset. It must remain under strong national control while being adequately funded, professionally managed, technologically advanced, and fully compliant with international aviation standards.

“The National Association of Air Traffic Engineers remains committed to supporting reforms that improve efficiency, transparency, accountability, and service delivery,” the association said.

NAAE concluded that, any reform must strengthen, not diminish, the capacity of NAMA to fulfil its statutory mandate of providing safe, secure, orderly, and efficient air navigation services stressing that the safety of millions of passengers, the protection of national airspace, and the future of Nigerian aviation are far too important to be driven by privatisation.