Lack of adequate personnel, especially in critical areas of Aviation Security (AVSEC), poor passenger facilitation, poor oversight on the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), lack of provision of guidance tools, absence of critical information, quality control obligations and resolution of security concerns in terms of deficiencies communicated, development of corrective actions and enforcement cost Nigeria the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) Universal Security Audit Programme (USAP) Continuous Monitoring Assessment (CMA) with 71 percent score.
Nigeria dropped a whopping 25 per cent points from the 96 per cent score it had in 2015, signposting serious gaps in many areas of the industry. Shockingly, Ghana, Uganda and Tanzania scored well above 80 percent while Nigeria scored 71.04 per cent in the last ICAO security audit, which lasted two weeks and ended on March 22, 2024.
The appointment of people into critical positions without good knowledge of the roles they play is also a contributory factor as many of the agencies are littered with people who are not professionals and not well trained in areas they manage causing the decline in aviation security rating.
The USAP CMA covered areas such as Inflight Security (IFS), Passenger and Baggage Security (PAX), Acts of Unlawful Interference (AUI), Facilitation (FAL), Legislation (LEG), Training (TRG), Quality Control Function (QCF), Operations (OPS) and Cargo, Mail and Catering (CGO).
The last audit before the one in March this year was in 2015. Nigeria scored 96 per cent, regarded as the highest in Africa, culminating in Nigeria receiving an award in 2019 at the ICAO Assembly.
One critical area that scored Nigeria low is the aviation regulatory body’s oversight of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), airlines and other stakeholders in the provision of guidance, tools critical information and others that were well below 50 per cent.
Other areas that the sector did not cover itself in glory were the area of qualification and training of Aviation Security (AVSEC), absence of critical information, poor quality control activities and resolution of security concerns.
The spokesman for the NCAA, Mr. Michael Achimugu, had recently justified the reason the country’s aviation sector was rated 71.04 per cent by the ICAO, saying Keyamo, and Acting Director General of NCAA, Captain Chris Najomo, corrected some inadequacies because they engaged some aviation security experts to carry out a mock audit ahead of the ICAO audit. Achimugu said if those deficiencies had been left, Nigeria would have been rated 30 per cent when results were released.
It is not all doom and gloom for Nigeria as the NCAA was rated highly in the area of legislation just as a few people expressed reservation over the 71 per cent scored in the latest audit, others made a case for the sector and NCAA because the protocols used in 2015 when Nigeria scored 96% has been expanded as the aviation security standards had gone through a lot of changes.