The Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) says no airport in the country is fully certified.

At a senate public hearing on recent developments in the nation’s aviation sector, the Director of Aerodrome in the Agency, Mr Joyce Nkemakolam also added that over 25 airlines have been registered for operation in the country.

The public hearing also revealed that one of the airlines has a plane that is 43 years old.

According to investigation, the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) is yet to certify any of the 22 airports in the country because the airports have been unable to meet the requirements on the regulator’s checklist particularly in the area of security and safety in the last 20 years.

The NCAA has never certified any airport in the country since 2006, when the law that gave it autonomy to certify airports in line with international regulations was promulgated and none of the airports in the country was certified before NCAA’s autonomy.

The items on the checklist had to do with two major issues which are security and safety.

The security aspect has to do with control of access to the airport’s sterile areas or airside and the security of other major points like the catering departments, boarding gates, check-in points and perimeter fencing.

The safety aspect, on the other hand, has to do with runway light, taxi way light, approach light, fire station and airport emergency response system, among others.

The essence of airport certification is to ascertain if there are enough personnel and equipment that can guarantee safety and security in any airport.

But it was gathered that though the airports in the country had been given the checklist applicable globally, the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria was yet to comply with the requirements on the checklist, especially the ‘open items.’
http://www.channelstv.com/home/2013/10/28/no-airport-in-nigeria-is-fully-certified-ncaa/

We actually may not have any airport in Nigeria, more like airfields.

This is scary!