Festus Keyamo, the Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, has called the House of Representatives member’s decision to cancel the licenses of some of the nation’s airstrips “a lack of understanding of the aviation industry.”
Keyamo addressed the lawmaker’s worries on Saturday on his X handle, explaining that the House of Representatives as a whole has not demanded that any private airfield licenses be revoked.
His reaction follows calls by some members, especially in the House of Representatives, to revoke certain private organizations’ and individuals’ airfield licenses for security reasons.
The sanctioning of airstrips for private persons on a regular basis, according to House of Representatives member Sulaiman Abubakar, may make the nation’s security issues worse.
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But in response to the parliamentarians’ action, Keyamo went on to inform the public about how the aviation industry operates with relation to license approvals.
“This is incorrect, in my opinion. The Minister was not ordered to cancel any private airport’s license by the House of Representatives as a whole. I believe that a motion was made in that direction, and it was unanimously sent to the Aviation Committee for investigation.
“The Hon. Member who proposed it had a really patriotic motive, but it was founded on a total ignorance of the aviation industry. They will be satisfied once we have explained to them how private air strips operate and the procedures our agencies go through before granting final clearance.
Private air strip owners are only accountable for constructing the runway and terminal structure. However, once the control tower is built, it is fully turned over to the Federal Government via the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA), which has total authority over all of Nigeria’s airspace.
In this regard, an MOU is often made with NAMA prior to the airstrip being authorized for use. Air traffic controllers and engineers are provided by NAMA in ALL NIGERIAN AIRPORTS AND AIRSTRIPS. Additionally, the Federal Government receives hefty payments from private airfield operators for similar services.
“No object enters Nigeria without first obtaining NAMA’s approval and submitting a detailed flight plan, including the departure and landing locations.” Additionally, I recently ordered that all planes entering the nation must land at our international airports first so they may be properly processed and inspected before taking local flights to the airport or airstrip of their choice.
Therefore, it is utterly and totally impossible for any owner of a private airport to just board an airplane and fly into and out of the nation using that facility. That is not allowed by the federal government.
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Without prior authorization and request, you will not be permitted to take off or land. Although I appreciate the Member’s patriotism, I wish he had been in touch with us to get our explanation before hurriedly moving such a motion. The NAMA Act, which grants the Federal Government sole authority over Nigerian airspace, is attached here for public consumption, he stated.
