The Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority, NCAA has unveiled the National Safety Policy Statement which is expected to provide guidance to all stakeholders in the aviation industry to ensure improvement in safety management and practices including safety reporting.
Mr Sam Adurogboye, Acting General Manager, Public Relations, NCAA explained that the policy statement has been signed by the Director General, Capt. Muhtar Usman.
Adurogboye said ‘’This was done in compliance with the requirements of the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) Annex 19 on Safety Management, which was adopted by the ICAO Council on the 25th of February, 2013. It however, became effective on the 14th of November, 2013.
“The Chapter 3 of the Annex requires each Contracting state to establish a State Safety Programme (SSP) for the management of safety in that state. This shall be done in order to achieve an Acceptable Level of Safety Performance (ALoSP) in civil aviation.
“The SSP therefore provides a framework within which service providers are required to establish a Safety Management System.
“Furthermore, the ICAO Global Aviation Safety Plan (GASP) recognises the importance of the establishment and maintenance of fundamental safety oversight systems. These are prerequisites to the full implementation of the State Safety Programme and calls on those states with mature safety oversight systems to progress towards full implementation of SSP.”