The Acting Managing Director of the National Airspace Management Agency (NAMA), Mr Mathew Pwajok, has said that the workforces of the agency are competent and qualified to execute their duties.
Pwajok made the announcement when he featured at the flagship News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) Forum on Sunday in Abuja.
According to him, the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) assesses and certifies every personnel working at NAMA.
“We have competent and qualified staff in the sense that our personnel are licensed by the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority. Licensing requires that you demonstrate a standard level of competence.
“It is the same global means of testing, evaluating and licensing personnel. You must reach that level of competence. In aviation generally, we have a minimum pass mark, which is 75 per cent.
“So, it is quite high. There is no room for average performance. So, in terms of competence, I can truly say that we have competent persons.”
Pwajok, however, expressed his displeasure at the inadequacy in the quantity of the needed personnel to cater for the job to be achieved.
The NAMA boss noted that more competent and qualified personnel were needed to replace retirees and to be deployed to new airports that were getting set for opening.
He said the agency was strategising to properly carry out its responsibility of providing navigational services in all upcoming airports belonging to state governments, private and the Federal Government.
“State governments are building airports, private airports are being built. NAMA has the responsibility of providing navigation services in all these airports, whether it is a federal airport, state airport or private airport.
“And so, continually, there is an increase in demand for these personnel and we have to strategically work towards recruiting and training them.
“The training capacity is also another limitation. I may recruit a hundred but the aviation college that trains must also have commensurate capacity to train them. Otherwise, I would have recruited but the training might have not been commensurate.
“So, in terms of technical and operational experts, like air traffic controllers and aircraft engineers, yes, we are having a shortfall and we are working strategically on recruitment and training,” said Pwajok.
According to him, NAMA has just recruited 45 staff, who have been sent to the Nigerian College of Aviation Technology (NCAT), Zaria, to undergo training.
The acting managing director said that last year the agency took about 40 employees, who were currently at NCAT undergoing training.
He said that such efforts being undertaken were geared toward developing capacity for the aviation sector. (NAN)
