The National Association
of Air Traffic Engineers (NAAE) on Sunday urged the Federal Government to deploy state-of-the-art Navigational Aids (NAVAIDS) to replace the ageing ones in the country’s airspace.
The association appeal, contained in a statement by its President, Mr Ebenzer Makanjuola, said in Lagos that it was in the light of the technological revolution in the global aviation community.
Navigational Aid is any device external to a vessel or aircraft specifically intended to assist port’s navigators in determining their position or safe course, or to warn them of dangers or obstructions to navigation.
The statement said the government should take advantage of technological revolution in the global aviation community to deploy new equipment with spare parts to replace ageing ones.
It called for the engagement of more manpower to enhance seamless operations in the country’s airpsace.
The statement pledged to ensure optimum performance of the equipment to achieve credibility of the facilities and safety of the country’s airspace if the equipment were provided.
The president noted that government had in the past embarked on massive deployment of airspace equipment.
It added that as managers of the equipment, they had remained serviceable, fully functional and reliable to the end users.
According to the statement, they are fully involved in skill deployment within available resources to ensure the success of the ongoing Aeronautical Information Service automation project and controller Pilot Data Link connection.
It said the association was aware of the misleading information perpetrated by some group of agitators aimed at frustrating government effort in providing state-of-the-art navigational facilities.
It noted that every group had the right to demand but such demand should not be premised on the state of equipment bearing in mind that they were agitating for a better welfare.