The establishment of a dedicated Unmanned Aircraft Systems unit by the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) has attracted accolades from the federal government.
The government described the feat as visionary and capable of aiding and accelerating the country’s quest to control and coordinate the increasing numbers of the use of the technology in Nigeria.
Among the speakers at the 2024 Dronetec Exhibition Conference held at the NIGAV Centre at the International wing of the Lagos airport was the Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Mr. Festus Keyamo who pledged to ensure the success and growth of the unit by making provisions for training and manpower development so that they can effectively oversee the use and operations of Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) otherwise known as drone technology across the country.
The regulatory body announced at the drone conference that it has received over 300 applications from operators for NCAA certification of different types of UAV across Nigeria.
Speaking on behalf of the minister, the Permanent Secretary in the ministry, Dr Emmanuel Meribole, called for collaborations with key stakeholders and leveraging the use of technology in order to achieve the vision of the unit affirming that the ministry will give it support and commended the vision of the Director General, Civil Aviation, Captain Chris Najomo.
Responding to requests by staff of the unit, the Permanent Secretary said “I have heard all your requests and challenges. One of the take away from here which I will gladly impress on the minister is that you need training. Of course, you need to bring it up for us to see how we can find resources to help you meet that.
“Secondly, we need to leverage technology. Leveraging technology has many parts, simple application processes, simple approval and simple collaboration processes. For you to prevent non-state actors, you need to identify who among them is not registered with you. So the local law enforcement will also have to come in.
“I don’t know how many staff you have, but you can’t go round the country, it is either you enter into collaborations by certifying the people that you have to do the work so that you have a value chain addition as you go round and of course the most important thing in all these is that you have a visionary leader at NCAA who is driving all these things.
“No matter the kind of support the minister gives, you need visionary leadership to ensure that we succeed. We also expect you to lead the way and we also expect you to think out of the box. We have critical thinkers as we move on. I am going to pass your message to the honorable minister and I can assure you that we are going to give you all the support.”
Also speaking, the Regional Manager, Lagos of the NCAA, Bukola Teriba, explained that the part 21 regulation document developed for the operations of drones is not only good for the NCAA but also for Nigeria.
She described the vehicles as mystic in the sky and affirmed that its regulations are important for the aviation industry.
Teriba commended the Perm Sec and the DG Civil Aviation, Captain Chris Najomo for the historic feat saying “Congratulation to you for being part of this. History will record that this feat was achieved during your time.
“For us here we will not forget to thank the DG CA whose bold initiatives it was to take up that singular task of identifying and has set up a dedicated drone desk in the agency.”
“His predecessors have been pulling inspectors from different units or directorates, most times these inspectors were also saddled with other responsibilities from the demanding aviation systems and dedicating little or no time for the UAS integration project.
“The DG took the bull by the horns and answered the clarion call from operators especially looking at the overwhelming applications that we have received over time.
“He must be strongly commended for setting up a dedicated desk to anchor all the UAS industry applications and requests. Another is the strong will to make work very well and function. The DG is still very supportive of the unit.”
On her part, NCAA Assistant General Manager, Licensing and UAS representative to the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) Remotely Piloted Aircraft System (RPAS) Panel, Collette Onyeulo, disclosed that the CAA is better positioned and well equipped now to address all the requests from different users who wish to obtain licenses for drone operations.
According to her, the unit needs to hit the ground running, saying, currently “we have over 300 applications for drone licenses. So it is a handful for us.”
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