AM EDITORIAL: Nigeria’s Airspace Equipment, Manpower Critical To Air Safety
The Managing Director of the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA) Engr. Farouk Ahmed Umar recently reiterated that the country was at the risk of losing its airspace surveillance service due to the obsolete state of the Total Radar Coverage of Nigeria (TRACON) equipment because of the difficulties in getting spare parts as the technology is outdated.
According to him, the life span of such important high-tech equipment is usually ten years but since 2014, the TRACON equipment began to go out of fashion as countries around the world began to migrate to more sophisticated and advanced technology.
He emphasized need to upgrade the TRACON since the TRACON System had aged. Deployment had started in 2008 and was completed in 2010 but the components are becoming obsolete with no spare parts. Most parts are working without back-up.
The TRACON project, a crucial, multibillion-naira project was commissioned in 2010 to enhance air safety by providing full radar surveillance across Nigerian airspace. The project involves nine radar sites maintained by NAMA in partnership with Thales of France, designed to track and identify aircraft in real-time by combining Primary Surveillance Radar (PSR) and Secondary Surveillance Radar (SSR) for monitoring, identifying, and controlling air traffic to enhance safety.
Airspace administration and air traffic management are dynamic and progressively technology driven. In 2026, air surveillance equipment as deployed in every country where airplanes operate, have to as a matter of necessity meet the standards of modern facilities.
Apart from acquisition and deployment, regular maintenance of air navigation and air surveillance equipment when compromised, amounts to air safety threat.
Periodic upgrade of airspace equipment adds capacity to the system through more efficient airspace and address the challenge of safety hotspots in airspace operation. Enhanced technology combined with updated airspace design enables safe, expeditious and efficient management of increased traffic.
Replacing obsolete infrastructure, adding automation tools and tackling the ongoing shortage of skilled and available air traffic controllers will help ensure the system remains safe, efficient and resilient for decades to come. Upgrading airspace surveillance equipment is not optional. It is essential to maintaining safety and unlocking the full potential of tomorrow’s aviation system.
Critical CNS infrastructure, communication, navigation, and surveillance facilities should be updated so as to meet accepted reliability standards. Controllers should not be forced to work around system weaknesses that should not exist in a modern aviation environment.
Until surveillance equipment are upgraded, there will continue to be unnecessary pressure on infrastructure which will continue to place unnecessary pressure on the very people who safeguard the nation’s skies every day.
The National Air Traffic Controllers Association (NATCA) has called for an urgent intervention in personnel training. NATCA warned that no airspace can be truly safe when the people responsible for managing it are compelled to operate beyond the safe limits of their available systems. The welfare issues of air traffic controllers as well as prolonged personnel career stagnation are equally critical issues.
Equally in demand of attention is the lack of structured training, retraining, and manpower development for Air Traffic Controllers. Aviation is a highly dynamic industry that requires continuous professional development to keep pace with evolving technologies, procedures, and global best practices. However, insufficient investment in recurrent training programmes and the absence of long-term manpower development planning can threaten air safety.
Minister of Aviation & Aerospace Development, Mr. Festus Keyamo (SAN) had at the first Stakeholders Engagement meeting he held in Lagos on assumption of office, expressed displeasure at the record of delays in delivery of some airspace equipment years after the orders had been placed with Thales of France.
He frowned at the history of placing orders for equipment, only for the facility to get obsolete even before delivery while a fresh budget for a more modern version is appropriated to enable another order, amounting to deliberate wastage of scarce resources. Keyamo had stated that such trend could continue later, but not under his watch. This disposition was an indication of the Minister’s commitment to upgrade of airspace equipment and safety enhancement.
We are aware and commend recent efforts to train more air traffic controllers for the country. We are hopeful that under this dispensation, Nigeria’s airspace surveillance upgrade will receive more funding and execution while much more additional attention will be given to training and welfare of air safety personnel because of the critical nature of this duo to air safety. AM
