Stepping Up On The Change Culture In Nigeria …As Demuren Returns..
Whereas the achievements of the
aviation industry in Nigeria were a collective toiling and moiling
of the Ministry of Aviation, aviation parastatals, airlines as well
as the private sector support groups, the coordinating role of Dr.
Harold Demuren as a core aviation professional and effective leader
in Nigeria's and indeed Africa's aviation industry would stand out
in the history of civil aviation in Nigeria and Africa -
Anonymous
From The Cold
In the dark days of aviation
un-safety in Nigeria when aircraft dropped from the skies, Nigeria
could only be compared to ill-regulated air transport environments
under the pall of civil and political strife in parts of
Africa.
The fatalities and frequencies of
occurrence of air accidents soared to a frightening crescendo in
the 2005/2006 period, such that the industry was forced out of its
phlegmatic apathy, so to say, to seek a definite stop to the
horrific death-ride. While the then aviation authorities were
sizing up the challenge of the fast-plummeting standards among
operators, many agreed that an external force could be better
positioned to effect the needed change. Dr. Harold Olusegun
Demuren, who was on retirement from the government sector of the
aviation industry, and at the time overseeing his private airline,
Afrijet Airlines, was picked to lead the efforts to re-launch the
industry on a new path of safety and overall growth and
development. He had served in the former Federal Civil Aviation
Authority as Director of Safety Services from 1991 till he was
retired in August 1995. He is an Aeronautical Engineer trained in
the former Soviet Union and in the US.
Civil Aviation
Reforms
Perhaps, the pain from the tragic
losses of about 350 fatalities in 2005/2006, the devaluation of
Nigeria's esteem in the comity of global civil aviation, and hence
urgent need to repair the battered air transport industry in
Nigeria were the impelling forces that drove radical improvements
that the industry continued to experience from the point Dr.
Demuren came in as the DG CAA in December 2005.
Dr. Demuren featured prominently
and worked fervently towards the ultimate cleansing of the aviation
system in Nigeria. He was at the core of the National Aviation
Workshop on Safety, Quality Assurance & Reforms in 2006
organized by the Aviation & Allied Business Journal on behalf
of the Federal Ministry of Aviation. The Workshop elicited
far-reaching recommendations from key partners in Nigeria's
aviation industry under the direct guidance and support of policy
and security experts from the International Civil Aviation
Organization (ICAO) and International Air Transport Association
(IATA) who deemed it crucial to transform civil aviation policy,
safety standards and practice generally in Nigeria at the time.
Part of the recommendations of the milestone Workshop was reflected
in the widely acclaimed Nigerian Civil Aviation Act 2006, which
stands today as a paradigm for several Africa States that need to
improve on their civil aviation regulation. The 2006 Act brought in
sweeping changes and re-direction to civil aviation in Nigeria,
thus handing Nigeria a fresh basis for a robust new beginning,
replacing the 1964 Civil Aviation Act which, at best, subdued
aviation development in Nigeria in the few decades before 2006.
Currently, strong opinions are that useful recommendations
contained in the 2006 Civil Aviation Workshop should be harmonized
with others from especially the Air Marshal Paul Dike-led aviation
committee which sat within the same period, among others, to
produce a functional and updated Civil Aviation Policy document to
drive aviation development in Nigeria. Working with industry
partners also, Dr. Demuren pushed for the achievement of the
autonomy of the NCAA, whereby the CAA has ultimate say on the
technical regulation of the aviation industry - devoid of political
interference that has crippled aviation development in parts of
Africa. Perhaps, the autonomy empowered Dr. Demuren to effect
change in the industry, and freed him from the nauseating excesses
of political intrusion that had been a major hindrance to aviation
development in Nigeria. The autonomy of the NCAA is in compliance
with ICAO stipulations, and is a good example for African States
yet to toe that line.
Cape Town
Convention
Dr. Demuren helped to achieve the
domestication of the Cape Town Convention in Nigeria. The
Convention is an international instrument endorsed by ICAO allowing
States that ratify and domesticate the Convention to have empowered
their airlines to have easier access to modern aircraft. In other
words, airlines from such States that ratify and domesticate the
Cape Town Convention can acquire more economically and ecologically
efficient aircraft to enhance their operations and get access to
juicy markets with inexorable regulatory requirements especially in
Europe and the US. All over Africa today, Dr. Demuren is seen as a
hero of sort having developed the Nigerian aviation industry into a
lead paradigm for several other African States needing guideposts
for the development of their local aviation industry. Several
States in Africa consult the Demuren-led NCAA to learn the secrets
of achieving eligibility to the benefits of the Cape Town
Convention, civil aviation reforms, security enhancement, and CAA
autonomy, among other achievements of the NCAA.
Zero-Accident
Dr. Demuren has proved that with
CAA autonomy comes improved safety. The zero-accident record
sustained for scheduled commercial passenger aircraft in Nigeria
since 2006 is the most remarkable outcome of Dr. Demuren's
stewardship in the industry which is the key measuring tool for
public assessment of the state of health of the air transport
industry. Public confidence shot up as the international aviation
community restated high esteem for the Nigerian aviation industry
and its regulators. ICAO and IATA particularly testified to the
"tremendous improvement" in the safety standard in Nigeria's
aviation industry.
In Marakkech recently at the AFRAA
AGA, IATA DG, Mr. Tony Tyler, expressly stated: "The Nigerian
example shows what can be achieved. In 2005 it had the worst safety
record on the continent with four of the eight hull losses in that
year. "Dr. Demuren brought innovation and proved that world-class
safety is possible in Africa. There was one further hull loss in
2006. And there have been no hull losses in Nigeria since 2007. Dr.
Demuren completes his tenure as Nigeria's DGCA next February and he
is owed a great debt of gratitude by IATA and all of our members
for his tireless work. His work should be an inspiration."
Optionally Compulsory IOSA
Certification
Strongly highlighted at the 2006
Civil Aviation Workshop, and further championed by Dr. Demuren, the
IATA Operations Safety Audit (IOSA) for airlines is a basic
requirement for Nigerian airlines. The CAA makes the IOSA
optionally compulsory for Nigerian airlines, and has continued to
encourage them to undergo the audit. Thus far, a number of airlines
including Overland Airways, Arik Air, Air Nigeria, among others,
have keyed into the culture of IOSA, while some airlines have
already got re-certification on the IOSA, which is one of the
cornerstones of high safety standards among Nigerian and African
airlines today. In Africa, IATA says IOSA airlines achieved an
accident rate close to global average several times lower than the
general African accident rate in 2011.
In 2006 also, Dr. Demuren, leading
the NCAA, mandated all operators in the aviation industry in
Nigeria to adopt safety management systems (SMS) which is a form of
guidepost for safety. The Just Culture and Voluntary Reporting
system is also part of the SMS system whereby operators are
encouraged to monitor the precursors of accidents under a
non-punitive, corrective-preventive system.
IASA Category 1
Certification
At the cusp of the robust safety
record achieved by Nigeria's aviation industry was the achievement
of the coveted Category 1 safety certification awarded by the US
Federal Aviation Administration (US FAA) to Nigeria in 2010. The US
Embassy in Abuja said in 2010 of the certification: "Nigeria has
achieved a Category 1 air safety rating from the U.S. Government
under the Federal Aviation Administration's (FAA) International
Aviation Safety Assessment (IASA) program. This means that Nigeria
complies with international air safety standards set by the
International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), the United
Nations' technical agency for aviation that establishes
international standards and recommended practices for aircraft
operations and maintenance." Former U.S. Ambassador, Dr. Robin R.
Sanders, officially notified and formally congratulated Dr. Demuren
at a brief ceremony on the certification in Abuja.
Her words: "This achievement is an
important milestone for Nigeria and US-Nigeria bilateral relations.
It is only fitting that this coveted Category 1 rating comes at the
dawn of the nation's year of Golden Jubilee. The US Mission, NCAA,
and FAA have worked together as a team in the true spirit of
bilateral partnership over the last two years to achieve this goal.
Hats off to everyone for a job well-done and a rating
well-deserved."
According to the US Embassy,
Nigeria is one of just six African countries, including Cape Verde,
Egypt, Ethiopia, Morocco and South Africa, with an IASA Category 1
rating." In this light, Ghana's Deputy Minister of Transport, Hon.
Dzifa Attivor, said last year in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, that
Ghana is intensifying efforts to re-establish its EASA Category 1
status. Results of the Category Certification 1 include the
empowerment of Nigerian airlines to fly direct to the US with
Nigerian-registered aircraft as Arik Air is currently doing.
Aviation
Security
When the failed bombing of December
25, 2009 occurred, the urgent need to re-arrange the security
apparatus in Nigeria came to the fore. Driven by Dr. Demuren with
the support of the Aviation Ministry, Nigeria became one of the
first countries globally to adopt 3D security technology and 100
percent pat-down at the airports in line with the new and emerging
threats to aviation security. Following the conference of African
Aviation Ministers in Abuja at the instance of ICAO in 2010 which
produced Africa's Aviation Security Roadmap, Dr. Demuren in 2011
presided over the second summit on aviation security in Dakar,
Senegal. Working together with the US Transport Security Board, the
NCAA under Dr. Demuren and Nigeria's Ministry of Aviation, has
turned the searchlight on the internal sides of aviation
organizations, mainly airports and airlines, to flush out what is
now known as aviation insider threats. Sustaining high level of
security is an on-going task as are other aspects of air transport,
which must become a culture among all operators in the
industry.
Manpower
Development
Dr. Demuren has been able to
achieve greater professionalism and infectious enthusiasm among
public and private industry partners. Training, motivation and
culture building is more pronounced in the aviation industry in
Nigeria for fear of clampdown from the NCAA, on the one hand, and
also for fear of a relapse into the pre-2006 state, on the
other.
The CAA set a safety-enhancing
hurdle of recertification for all existing and upcoming airlines in
Nigeria, and has set out also to certificate all airports in the
country. This may be the final ground-setting for the build-up of
the superstructures and steady development in the aviation industry
in Nigeria.
Accolades From
ICAO
Perhaps, on the strength of the
remarkably upped safety and other standards in Nigeria, in addition
to the country's soaring international profile in aviation circles,
ICAO picked Dr. Demuren to be the President of the ICAO 37th
Assembly in Montreal, Canada, the first for any African. By this
turn, many say the ovation reached the apogee for Dr. Demuren. But
with so much yet undone, Dr. Demuren believes the foundation has
only been laid for the build-up of all aspects of the aviation
industry in Nigeria, West Africa and Africa generally.
Regional Cooperation &
Development
Dr. Demuren has been an ardent
advocate of a domestic airline market in West Africa. He says, in
the spirit of the Yamoussoukro Decision (YD), which seeks the
dismantling of State and regional barriers to African airlines, all
States in West Africa should relax their civil aviation laws such
that an airline from any West African State can perform domestic
operations in any other West African State without inhibition.
However, States are only tardily responding, if not unwilling to
respond, to this crucial call.
BAGASOO And
BAGAIA
Whereas the air transport industry
in Africa, toeing the line of ICAO, is prioritizing regional
capacity building for safety, security and manpower development,
Dr. Demuren, along with key aviation experts in the West African
region, took the lead to establish the Banjul Accord Group Safety
Oversight Organization (BAGASOO), and the BAG Accident
Investigation Agency (BAGAIA), both headquartered in Abuja. This is
now a major paradigm which other African regions are charged to
emulate.
After A Remarkable Five
Years
Nigeria has witnessed well-deserved
respite, if not bliss, since the past five years corresponding with
the days of intense hardwork by Dr. Demuren and the NCAA, the
Ministry of Aviation, parastatals and Nigerian airlines as well as
industry support organizations.
What makes the CAA the powerful
engine responsible for aviation growth and development is the CAA's
position as industry regulator and safeguard of ICAO Standards and
Recommended Practices at State levels. The CAA as the enforcer of
industry regulation and preserver of industry standards cannot be
compromised with the wrong leadership. As the five-year tenure of
Dr. Demuren ran out February 22, 2012, the DG CAA has been retained
to carry on with the transformation of the aviation industry in
Nigeria. Dr. Demuren is already faced with a mighty task of
surpassing the achievements of Nigeria's aviation industry in the
last five years. That is why the least that would be expected of
the new DG CAA would be to improve on the safety and security
level, policy standards, and public confidence, besides keeping
Nigeria's flag flying very high in global civil aviation community.
Above all, since the refrain in the industry in the past 5 years
has been 'safety, safety, safety', it is paramount now that
attention be focused also on economic regulation to buoy the
performance of airlines in this regard, among others. Whether the
cup is half-full or half-empty would depend on the fresh drive and
delivery of the DG CAA.
However, keen industry observers
believe a new phase of development has begun in Nigeria's aviation
industry with the end of tenure of DG NCAA December 2005 to February
2012; and the scorecard in the course of his current stewardship
would say how well Nigeria has fared from the present pedestal.
