Airspace engineers underequipped, overworked – NAAE president

President of the National Association of Air Traffic Engineers (NAAE), Mr. Seizling Miri, has raised an alarm over unresolved challenges faced by engineers in Nigeria’s air navigation sector. He cited inadequate tools, poor working conditions and lack of operational support as major constraints undermining their performance and limiting the impact they can make. He spoke […]

President of the National Association of Air Traffic Engineers (NAAE), Mr. Seizling Miri, has raised an alarm over unresolved challenges faced by engineers in Nigeria’s air navigation sector.

He cited inadequate tools, poor working conditions and lack of operational support as major constraints undermining their performance and limiting the impact they can make.

He spoke at the NAAE’s Lagos Branch Annual General Meeting (AGM) in Lagos.

Miri emphasised that while the management of the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA) has made giant strides but pointed out that much more is needed to empower engineers and technical personnel to deliver optimally.

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He stressed the lack of critical test equipment and modern tools as a key impediment, recounting personal experiences where the absence of such tools had stalled work that would otherwise have been resolved easily with proper gear.

“In the field, I’ve seen our foreign partners bring out tools that seem magical in the way they solve problems. But they aren’t performing miracles; they simply have the right equipment,” Miri said.

The NAAE president highlighted poor transportation to sites, decaying operational vehicles, as some of the realities they face on a daily basis.

He recalled an experience at Jos airport where the only available vehicle was in such a deplorable state that it failed to start without the driver manually crossing wires under the bonnet.

“We’ve been crying for operational vehicles. My predecessor is here. He fought this battle for five years as NAAE president and we couldn’t achieve that. This is my third year as NAAE president, it has been the same cry.

“I went to Jos to work, the only operational vehicle they brought to carry me to site even animals you wouldn’t want them to enter that kind of vehicle. I am not exaggerating and worse still, the vehicle did not start, the driver had to open the engine trying to cross a lot of cables before they moved that vehicle to site. I was ashamed of myself, I was ashamed of the station, I felt so bad. This is how bad we can be and today, no vehicles in Jos and many other places”.

According to him, such conditions are not only shameful but detrimental to morale and national safety.

“I have gone to a station in Benin, where our ATSEPs (Air Traffic Safety Electronics Personnel) staff had to sit on tractor slasher used to cut grass to carry him to site to go and switch on an instrument, this is not a good thing and I think with the new NAMA we have, I believe this should change”.

The situation is exacerbated by the absence of functional workshops in many stations which implies that once faults are identified, engineers have nowhere to diagnose or repair faulty modules.

He stressed that without the right work environment, including tools, transportation, functional workshops, adequate staffing and fair remuneration, engineers cannot be expected to deliver the level of excellence the aviation sector demands.

“No one can think straight on an empty stomach,” he said, saying engineers must be in the right frame of mind to perform optimally.

“To make a lasting impact, the management must play its part by providing the right environment for us to thrive.

“The management has a part to play in ensuring that we are given the rightful environment to thrive, the rightful environment to make that lasting impact and I must also add that a good remuneration is good for an engineer”.

There was no comment from NAMA as of press time. However, a source in the agency said NAMA is taking steps to address the infrastructure challenges across its stations.