Serious concerns are mounting over the safety of Nigeria's airspace as the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency has raised the alarm that the country risks losing its capacity to effectively monitor and track aircraft due to the rapidly deteriorating state of its radar infrastructure.
The Managing Director of NAMA, Farouk Umar, sounded the warning during a visit by the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Mahmoud Kambari, describing the current state of the Total Radar Coverage of Nigeria system, known as TRACON, as terrible and demanding urgent intervention before the situation spirals into a full-blown safety crisis.
TRACON, which serves as the backbone of Nigeria's air traffic surveillance, was commissioned in 2001 to provide comprehensive radar coverage across the country and for years formed the foundation upon which air traffic controllers relied to track aircraft movement in real time. However, Umar told his guest that the system, whose deployment began in 2008 and was completed in 2010, has now far outlived its effective lifespan and is in a dire state of disrepair.
"Our area of urgent attention includes the air traffic surveillance service. The TRACON system has aged. Components are becoming obsolete with no spare parts, and most parts are working without backup. The airspace is at risk of losing surveillance service," Umar said, painting a grim picture of the current state of an infrastructure upon which the safety of thousands of passengers flying through Nigerian airspace depends daily.
He explained that equipment of TRACON's class typically has a lifespan of about ten years, meaning the system has been operating beyond its recommended service life for well over a decade. He further noted that since 2014, the technology underpinning the system had been falling out of use globally, with many nations having long migrated to more advanced and more reliable surveillance platforms, leaving Nigeria increasingly isolated with an outdated and failing system.
The NAMA boss warned that the consequences of inaction could be far-reaching and potentially catastrophic. Without a properly functioning surveillance system, he said, maintaining safe distances between aircraft in flight becomes considerably more difficult, raising the risk of incidents in what is already a complex aviation environment. He also cautioned that Nigeria could find itself falling short of the requirements set by the International Civil Aviation Organisation if urgent steps are not taken to address the deterioration, a development that could have serious implications for the country's standing in global aviation.
Compounding the technical problems, Umar revealed that NAMA is also grappling with severe financial constraints that have severely hampered its ability to upgrade critical infrastructure and sustain its operations. He decried a 30 per cent deduction that the Federal Government applies to the agency's internally generated revenue, insisting that the deduction was crippling NAMA's capacity to meet its most fundamental obligations.
He further disclosed that the agency has been charging a flat rate of N11,000 per aircraft per flight since 2008, a figure he described as wholly unrealistic given the dramatic rise in operating costs over the intervening years, yet efforts to secure approval for an upward review have repeatedly been met with resistance. The rising cost of fuel for power generation was also cited as a growing burden on the agency's already strained finances, while mounting debts owed by airlines and state-owned airports were said to be further eroding NAMA's financial stability. A shortage of trained manpower and limited opportunities for staff development were equally flagged as factors that could deepen the crisis if left unaddressed.
Responding to the concerns raised, the Permanent Secretary Kambari acknowledged the gravity of the situation and pledged the ministry's support, emphasising that Nigeria's aviation industry must remain a key economic driver and a hub of global connectivity. He called for a united effort, sustained investment in infrastructure and greater attention to the welfare of the aviation workforce as the way forward in addressing the mounting challenges facing the sector.
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