The Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA) has warned that the nation’s airspace surveillance system, known as Total Radar Coverage of Nigeria (TRACON), may collapse due to lack of spare parts.
The agency’s Managing Director, Capt. Fola Akinkuotu, who gave the warning at aviation stakeholders’ interactive forum held on Tuesday in Lagos, called all the Federal Government to help in funding the spare parts project.
Akinkuotu disclosed that the contractors for the project, Thales, a French company, had reneged in supplying spare parts for the life-saving equipment, adding that the facility remains functional currently due to the technical ingenuity of the NAMA engineers who have kept it working.
Meanwhile, the agency has installed category three Instrument Landing System (ILS) in Lagos and Abuja airports to aid flight operations during harmattan or inclement weather.
The NAMA boss explained that the high powered instrument would make aircraft land or take off at zero visibility using instrument rather than visual for flight movement.
According to him, plans are ongoing to install the facilities in the 17 airports nationwide.
Confirming the NAMA boss’ position on the poor state of the TRACON facility, the Director Safety Electronics and Engineering Services (DSEES), Farouk Ahmed, said that the agency had been having challenges with the equipment since 2014, adding that for over two years, Thales had refused to supply us spare parts.
Specifically, the Director said that since 2014, the agency has been managing the radar without spares and appealed to the Minister of State for Aviation to interface with Thales to do the needful.
Industry analysts observed that although the equipment had helped to aid airspace surveillance, its installation has continued to generate controversy since it was commissioned in 2012.
The aim of TRACON is to provide total visibility of the Nigerian airspace stretching over 315 nautical miles. When the Nigerian airspace is under full radar coverage, all flights originating, terminating and over-flying the Nigerian airspace, will remain in radio and radar contact with the air traffic controllers every inch of the way.
The Nigerian Airspace Management Agency, NAMA, wants the Federal Government to as a matter of urgency assist the agency to upgrade and modernize the Total Radar Coverage of Nigeria TRACON for a safe, efficient and air transport in the country.
The contract for TRACON was awarded in 2003 by President Olusegun Obasanjo’s administration at the sum of Euros 67 million to Thales ATM GmbH, a French company.
Although the project was commissioned in 2012 with fanfare, industry experts familiar with TRACON have consistently queried the processes the project was conceived and executed.
