Nigeria meets Up with US First Class Aviation Standard

The Nigerian aviation industry has retained the
United States Federal Aviation Administration's
Category One Status certification.
With this, Nigerian airlines can continue to
operate direct flights into the US.
A top official of the Nigerian Civil Aviation
Authority disclosed this to our correspondent
in Lagos on Wednesday.
The official, who did not want to be quoted
because he was not permitted to speak on the
issue, said the Minister of Aviation, Mr. Osita
Chidoka, was presented with the certificate in
the US.
According to the source, the certificate was
issued after the NCAA and other aviation
agencies closed all the identified open items
when the FAA team visited the country in
April.
The source said, "The minister got the
certificate retaining Nigeria's Cat1 status from
the American FAA, which informed him that
Nigeria had continued to meet the safety
oversight requirements under the
international aviation standards.

"The minister said that the retention of the
Cat1 Status was hard earned and promised that
the government would continue to ensure that
the country retained the status and other
future safety certifications in a seamless way."
He added that Chidoka was accompanied on
the trip by the Acting Director-General, NCAA,
Mr. Benedict Adeyileka; Director of Air
Transport Management in the Federal Ministry
of Aviation and the Senior Special Assistant to
the President on Aviation Reforms.

The US FAA had audited the Nigerian aviation
industry between March 31 and April 3, 2014.
Following the audit, the NCAA was given 120
days to come up with an action plan to correct
the deficiencies discovered.

The Cat1 audit, also known as International
Aviation Safety Assessment, is a programme
established by the FAA with the purpose of
ensuring that all aircraft operators registered
outside the US that operate to or from the
country are properly licensed and are subject
to safety oversight provided by a competent
civil aviation authority in accordance with the
International Civil Aviation Organisation
standards.

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