NAMA Partners CAPSCA, AFISNET On Medical Emergency, Network Initiatives

By Patrick Aigbokhan

The Nigeria Airspace Management Agency (NAMA) has indicated its bid to partner with the Collaborative Arrangement for the Prevention and Management of Public Health Events in Civil Aviation (CAPSCA) towards the actualization of medical emergency preparedness for the Nigerian aviation sector.

Engr. Ibrahim Abdulsalam, Managing Director, NAMA, pledged full support and co-operation of the agency at the opening ceremony of CAPSCA Assistance Visit to Nigeria at the NCAA Annex, MMIA Ikeja Lagos.

Abdulsalam noted that since Air Traffic Controllers are central in the procedures for notification of medical emergencies on board aircraft, NAMA would continue to give unflinching support to such collaborative efforts geared towards the prevention and management of public health emergencies.

In a bid to improve states preparedness, planning and responses to public health events, the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), through CAPSCA has been visiting various regions of the world to assess preparedness of aviation sectors in public health events and offering training and assistance visits to airports, in line with the WHO as contained in the International Health Regulations (2005).

Capt. Muhtar Usman, Director General, Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), who also spoke at the occasion, expressed confidence that the assistance visit by CAPSCA would entrench a positive culture in the aviation sector towards preventing the spread of communicable diseases through air travel.

The two-day event holding between the 22^nd and 23^rd of June, 2015 involved the presentation of papers by the CAPSCA team as well as resource persons from the Ministry of Health and the aviation sector including NAMA’s Director of Operations, Mr Uzoma-Fyneboy.

In another development, NAMA last week hosted the Inception Meeting of the Africa Indian Ocean Region Satellite Network (AFISNET) Evaluation and Re-engineering Audit at Ibis Hotel, Lagos.

This was in an effort to ensure maximum availability and integrity of network provision in line with ICAO standards.

The meeting, which provided a platform for all stakeholders in the AFISNET group to interact and exchange ideas on network performance and improvement, also sought to appraise available network infrastructure, identify gaps and make recommendations in line with modern trends. NAMA as an ANSP enjoys the satellite platform of AFISNET for the provision of Air Traffic Services (voice coordination with adjacent FIRs), AFTN and Extended Range VHF coverage.

In his remarks at the occasion, Engr. Emma Anasi, Director of Safety Electronics and Engineering Services, who represented the Managing Director, Engr. Ibrahim Abdulsalam, stressed the need for the network to be critically ex-rayed to explore new frontiers in satellite communication schemes in order to harness the advantage of greater efficiency and cost effectiveness by adopting new technical solutions for improvement of network.

The AFISNET group comprising NAMA (Nigeria), GCAA (Ghana), ASECNA (Francophone countries) and Roberts FIR (Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia etc) was established for the purpose of sharing common satellite infrastructure to ensure seamless ATC operations within the West African sub-region.