|
|
A Special International Report
Prepared by
The Washington Times
Advertising Department - Published on September 30, 1999
[Home Page]
|
|||||
|
Sponsors (1) Federal Ministry of Finance
|
 |
Airport security and foreign investment go hand in hand
“Aviation is the travel mode of the world,” Peter Igbinedion Managing Director of the Federal Aviation Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), said. “The first and last impression is your airport. Foreign investment, which is what Nigeria is looking for, is going to come from people who fly. It is vital, if Nigeria is going to grow, that it encourage American businessmen to come in.”
Today, Igbinedion says, Americans are no longer doubting whether Nigeria’s airports and airspace can attain international standards, instead they are waiting with anticipation for the final touches to be made to the safety and security of its aviation infrastructure and U.S.-Lagos flights to resume.
Restrictions on U.S. flights to Nigeria were instituted in 1993 because of technical issues, particularly a perceived lack of security at the Murtala Mohammed International Airport. They were reassessed by an interagency team in 1995, but, though important improvements had been made at the Lagos Airport,the team determined that corruption still threatened airport security. “Having a sign in every American airport saying there is a ban on flying to Nigeria gives a bad impression not only of Nigeria’s airports, but of Nigeria as a whole,” Igbinedion said.
It was not until 1998 that discussions on resuming direct flights between the two countries began, following President Bill Clinton’s historic visit to six African countries last March when the Safe Skies Initiative for Africa issue was raised. In October another interagency team traveled to Lagos to initiate dialogue with Nigerian aviation authorities and to establish a new foundation on civil aviation security at Lagos Airport.
Since then it has been discussed at length by officials at the Nigerian Ministry of Aviation and the U.S. Department of Transport, often in the context of other meetings and events. Minister of Aviation Segun Agagu cited discussions at Abidjan with U.S. Transportation Secretary Rodney Slater, in Washington during the conference on the United States African Ministerial Partnership for the 21st Century in 1999 and again at the Conference on Safe Skies for Africa in Washington in June.
Most recently, representatives of the U.S. Department of Transport met with key officials at the Ministry of Aviation to discuss the issues, priorities and possible actions necessary to address any outstanding issues of aviation security and safety.
“Progress so far has been encouraging,” the minister said. “Given the commitment of the United States Government to supporting Nigeria’s new democratic dispensation and efforts so far made by my ministry and its parastatals toward addressing the problems at our airports, I am confident that direct flights between our two countries will commence soon.”
The Federal Ministry of Aviation acts on behalf of the Federal Government as the aeronautical authority in the country, charged with initiating and formulating policy as well as implementing all the rules and regulations on aviation-related projects through its departments and parastatals.
Work on lifting the restrictions and resuming flights between the two countries began in earnest in April. However, according to Bradley Mims, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Aviation and International Affairs at the U.S. Department of Transportation, the real work only began in the summer. Mims is impressed by Nigeria’s achievements. “They have excellent willingness, and with the leadership of the present administration and the able leadership of Peter Igbinedion they have made significant progress.”
Igbinedion has worked with FAAN for the last three years. During his tenure, he said, he has worked to rearrange the thinking of airspace management and make people realize airports are a service industry. He has shifted FAAN policy toward more focused investment, replacement of equipment and retraining of staff. Since Obasanjo’s government took office, his task has been greatly facilitated. “The democratic environment has made it much easier,” he said. “There is more freedom and we have been given all the necessary support.”
According to Mims, the U.S. is now considering sending an assessment team into Nigeria in the early fall to do a complete review of the progress made in the security situation, in expectation of flights as early as the end of the year.
In the anticipation of the team’s visit, Mims says the Department of Transportation has been working with Igbinedion to do informal surveys of Nigeria’s system and to bring in U.S. consultants “to help them work in this particular situation to get them into an acceptable security category.”
According to Igbinedion, Nigeria is already about 90 percent of the way there. “We have been working closely with the U.S. Federal Aviation Authority, who have also been assisting the resident representative of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), who is here on an 18-month contract.”
One of the main areas of concern that led to the restrictions was security in and around the perimeter of the Murtala Mohammed International Airport in Lagos. “Too many people were simply walking around and allowed free access to the airport,” Mims explained.
Improvements Begun
To correct the situation outside the airport, the ministry has already intensified perimeter patrols of the airport and all departing and arriving flights are now being escorted by security vehicles.
Regarding internal security, the situation is even more encouraging. According to the minister, the number of personnel of the various agencies at the airport has been drastically reduced for security purposes. The number of customs officials dropped from about 450 in the passenger terminal to 120 and from about 800 in the cargo area to 60. Immigration officials were pared down from 170 to 50 while the number of officials from the Nigerian Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) dropped from about 96 to 30.
“To his credit, Obasanjo and his government have done an excellent job in scaling back the numbers of customs people and immigration people,” Mims said. “Prior to the Obasanjo administration, many of the personnel were wandering the airport and indiscriminately asking tourists for their identification papers.” One of the fundamental issues noted by the U.S. FAA was the absence of an authority to oversea civil aviation security in Nigeria. The concern was that agencies operating independently at the airport within their own legal mandates complicated and thus exacerbated the security situation. With the scale-down in the number of personnel, as well as new coordination system that brings all airport security and enforcement personnel under FAAN that is no longer the case.
In addition, the U.S. has also been assisting FAAN in training all its security staff in the field on proper inspection of passengers and luggage. To date, about 120 people have undergone the training but more are anticipated.
Recently the ministry sent all the heads of departments including immigration, state security service, customs, the NDLEA and airport security for a weeklong Senior Management Aviation Security Course offered by the U.S. FAA at the FAAN Training School in Ikeja. The training school recently offered ministry officials a course on security enforcement at airports to enhance monitoring and enforcement.
All heads of agencies also attended a four-day Integrated Airport Security Management Training course at London’s Gatwick International Airport. According to Igbinedion, Gatwick was chosen because of the similarity between the two airports’ security environment. “We sent them to learn how to coordinate among the different agencies and to understand exactly what each of their roles are,” Igbinedion explained.
Arising from the course was a Memorandum of Understanding, developed for endorsement and compliance by all agencies involved in operations at the airport. Another seminar on Airport Security is being arranged for October and will bring expert speakers from the United Kingdom and the U.S..
One of the only remaining tasks, Igbinedion said, is “paperwork”: checking the survey and inspection program to makes sure it is all in order. Though the program has existed for some time, the U.S. wants to ensure it is complete in every detail. “If it says that checks of the perimeter should be done, it must give details as to how the checks should be done, the name of the tarmac gates … definite details,” Igbinedion said.
Access control and the screening of people entering the airport grounds is nearly complete. Once the survey and inspection program has been taken care of, Igbinedion says, they will be 90 percent there. All that will remain in terms of airport security are details, such as putting in gates and any small fine-tuning requested by the upcoming report of the U.S. Department of Transport assessment team.
All that will remain is to negotiate an aviation security article for inclusion in the U.S.- Nigeria bilateral aviation agreement.
Modernizing Equipment
An integral part of Nigeria’s airport renaissance is the plan to modernize its Air Traffic Control. Currently, ATC lacks adequate communications equipment for controller to controller (ATC direct speech) and controller to pilot conversations, as well as Aeronautical Fixed Telecommunication Network. Nigeria also lacks ATC radar throughout the country.
Plans to address the situation are already under way. Nigeria has already purchased and embarked on a replacement program for all its ground-based navigational aids. In terms of communications, the government is working to update the existing Satellite Communications (SATCOM) to cover national airspace with aeromobile and aerofixed communication. The project is currently 70 percent complete and efforts are under way to complete it.
New navigation and landing aids have also been commissioned in Lagos and Port Harcourt, with installation under way at the Abuja and Kano airports. All other airports have their new navigation and landing aids on the ground waiting for installation. The government is also providing ATS direct speech to enable controllers to pass safety information from one airport to another regarding all aircraft flying within their airspace. Finally, area control centers will be established at the Lagos and Kano airports for positive air traffic control.
According to the minister, the high density of air traffic in Lagos, Abuja, Port Harcourt and Kano Terminal Area Control boundaries and the large number of overflight justifies the provision of radar services in these areas. “In addition to enhancement of safety, expeditious and economic flow of air traffic will be ensured by the provision of radar services,” Agagu explained. “My ministry has taken this aspect as a priority for implementation. For the long-term, the goal will be total radar coverage of national airspace, as detailed in the African and Indian Ocean ICAO plan.”
Refresher courses have also been planned at the Nigerian College of Aviation Technology (NCAT) in Zaria to bring all the air traffic controllers up to date on their duties. Each controller will be required to take the course annually. “Retraining of air traffic controllers to face the ever-dynamic change in airspace management is being given priority,” the minister said.
The ministry has invited a number of aviation-related companies from Europe and the U.S. FAA to Nigeria to assess and recommend any further improvements to the aviation industry.
In addition, it has planned a massive retraining program for all its engineers and air traffic controllers, as well as a modernization program for all the control towers and a phased implementation for radar coverage, slated to begin with the Lagos airport.
Air Safety
Separate from the issue of airport security is air safety. Regardless of whether the U.S. lifts its restrictions on Nigeria, in dealing with flight resumption Nigeria will also have to pass a safety threshold dictated by the ICAO requirements under the United Nations. To assist the country in obtaining that goal, U.S. air traffic control and flight standards personnel are working with their Nigerian counterparts at the newly created and autonomous Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA).
“The resumption of direct flights between Nigeria and the United States is critical to the realization of our mutual desire to bring relations between the two countries to a new and higher level,” Agagu said.
Subsequently, the minister is anxious that this relationship continue. “I wish to seize this opportunity to call for the continued understanding and support of United States authorities such as the Federal Aviation Authority on the matter, and also in the area of providing technical assistance to the parastatals of my ministry so that Nigerians can meet the ICAO requirements – at least at the four international airports in the country.”
Once the restrictions are lifted it will be up to individual license-holding airlines to decide through market study whether they want to resume flights.
According to Mims, a successful resumption of flights “will send a clear and concise message that the president – and the democracy he is at the helm of – is serious about their governance and about being a world player, in terms of international trade and other forms commerce and tourism.”
US Cooperation
The Ministry of Aviation envisions a close long-term relationship with the Unites States. Among its goals are continued training of airport security, security monitoring and enforcement personnel as well as airworthiness surveyors.
It also hopes to achieve cooperation to the extent of provision of modern electronic screening equipment and training of operational staff, the exchange of airport security information and timely assistance in dealing with drug trafficking at airports – an important element of any foreign relations with the U.S..
Beyond such basics, Nigeria hopes to modernize its safety landing equipment, its servicing of its mostly U.S. commercial air fleet, training of staff at the Nigerian college of Aviation Technology in Zatia, and to obtain advice from U.S. professionals on all aviation-related matters, including the sponsorship of Nigerian professionals to train in the U.S..
Future Plans
Among the ministry’s goals over the next four years is the revival of the national carrier through restructuring and privatization. According to Awwal Tukur, chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Aviation, the real issue will be how to move Nigeria Airways into a position where it can be privatized. Currently, the company is highly indebted, with several non-operational aircraft. “It will definitely be privatized. There is no question about that,” he said. “The only question is when.”
The International Finance Corporation (IFC), an arm of the World Bank, has been contracted as a privatization consultant to prepare the carrier for the eventual privatization.
Perhaps the carrier’s greatest assets are its bilateral air service agreements, currently numbering about 64. But according to Tukur, the airline in its present state is not only a big drain on the economy but also an embarrassment. “It flies the national colors outside Nigeria,” he said.
A number of foreign allies are already interested in privatizing the airline, but Nigerians like Tukur are eager that, since it is the nation’s carrier, a large portion remain in Nigerian hands. “We are trying to see how much of a local content can effectively be taken up in country,” he said. Management, though, is a different story.
For its part, the minister said the airline would welcome proposals from investors willing to assist it in returning to its former position. Nigeria Airways has already begun discussions with a number of potential investors. However, as the minister pointed out, the proposals must be in line with government policy on privatization.
In the meantime, the minister hopes that by using some of the world’s best consultants it will be able to reahabilitate the dying carrier and make it attractive to buyers after an 18-month overhaul.
With regard to private Nigerian carriers, the minister explained they are free to enter into business arrangements with foreign investors “as long as they do so within the laws and regulations guiding such deals.”
With the existing domestic terminal in Lagos too small and too old to accommodate the flourishing domestic travel, a larger one has been designed that will offer better facilities to travelers. A two-floor structure, the new airport is estimated to cost about $30 million. The design includes two parking lots for airport patrons and another for airport staff. Provisions made have been for shops, restaurants, VIP lounges and storage. Construction of the proposed airport will take 18 months. The opportunity for investors around the site should attract considerable attention.
From a broader perspective, the minister anticipates overall government policy will ensure a conducive and attractive investment environment that will help lure foreign investors to Nigeria. “It is my hope that this will serve as an incentive to foreign investors in the field of aviation,” he said.
|
|
Table of Contents (1) It's a new dawn over Nigeria |
|
Re-establishing flights between Nigeria and the United States, suspended for the last six years, is a priority for both countries. Travel is a basic necessity for business to be conducted between the two, while symbolizing a deeper connection that is fundamental to Nigeria’s economic future.
Transportation has been a major component of Clinton’s partnership with Africa and the U.S. Department of Transportation has been instrumental in supporting the President’s policies through its own training and support initiatives. “The bottom line is that if you can’t get there, you can’t trade,” said Slater at the Houston Corporate Council on Africa ‘Attracting Capital to Africa Summit’ in April. For this reason, Slater said, improving airport security is so critical. “To attract travelers and commercial shippers, air travel to Africa must be safe and secure.”