ICAO’s safety audit not same as facilitation, security audits, DG NCAA clarifies

The Director-General of the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), Capt. Musa Nuhu has said the Universal Safety Oversight Audit Programme (USOAP) slated to take place in Nigeria in the first quarter of 2022 is a Continuous Monitoring Approach (CMA) by the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) and is different from Annexes 9 and 17.

According to Nuhu, ICAO’s Annex 9 is on facilitation; while Annex 17 is concerned with the security of international air transport and is amended regularly to address the evolving threat.

He explained that the USOAP audit is an activity during which ICAO assesses the effective implementation of the critical elements of a safety oversight system and conducts a systematic and objective review of a State’s safety oversight system to verify the status of its compliance with the provisions of ICAO Convention.

By comparison, Nuhu insisted that the safety audit has nothing to do with both facilitation and security, which have different audits.

He said Nigeria performed well in the last security audit conducted in the aviation sector as it scored 96.4 percent, and was issued the ICAO Council President Award Certificate for its performance.

Nuhu explained further that the USOAP-CMA Audit (security audit) is now scheduled for the third quarter of 2022, stressing that NCAA’s aspirational Effective Implementation (EI) score for the USOAP-CMA Audit is 90 percent.

“NCAA will step up its oversight function and collaboration with all relevant stakeholders to ensure continued improvement in aviation security and facilitation. Security Audit is different from a safety audit. What we are doing now is quite different from security audit and it’s not related to facilitation. I understand facilitation is good for passengers, but, it has nothing to do with the current audit.

“The last security audit we had, Nigeria scored 96.4 percent and because of this performance, Nigeria received ICAO Council President Award Certificate for its performance. Yes, I accept we have some challenges in the industry, just like in other countries around the world. However, to say Nigeria is not ready for audit is a misnomer. Someone is saying we are not ready for two issues that are not part of the forthcoming audit. I think that is wrong,” Nuhu explained.

He enjoined all stakeholders in the sector to team up with the NCAA with a view to making the forthcoming audits successful.

He added that the sector has witnessed zero accidents in the last eight years, thanks to the responsiveness of all stakeholders to the regulations put in place by the ICAO and domiciled by the NCAA.

He expressed hope that the sector will continue to thrive even in the face of odds like the Covid-19.