The Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development Mr. Festus Keyamo (SAN) on Wednesday commissioned the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority’s (NCAA) Flight Data Centre (FDC).

The FDC is part of the NCAA’s concerted efforts to improve aviation safety in Nigeria.

Speaking at the event, the Minister said the facility speaks to one of his five points agenda which borders on safety improvement in the aviation sector;

“The fact that we are concentrating on improving safety within the sector of course would mean that we will keep moving up in the rating of ICAO,” he said.

“The Flight Data Center we just commissioned today is vital. I’m sure you have heard technical experts explain how it works. It doesn’t work only for incidences and serious incidents alone. It also works in a routine manner whereby they track flight patterns, they track various human efforts, and mechanical data. They conclude how to improve the sector, offer advice, and regulate better which is the core mandate of the NCAA” he further explained.

The minister stated that the NCAA facility speaks to the fact that the administration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is very concerned about improving different sectors, moving from an analog to a digital way of executing functions.

In his remarks at the event, the Acting Director-General, Civil Aviation, Capt. Chris Najomo explained that Annex 19 to the Convention on International Civil Aviation mandates all States to establish safety data collection and processing systems (SDCPS) to capture, store, aggregate, and enable the analysis of safety data and safety information. This is a hallmark of an effective State Safety Programme (SSP).

He said beyond the cost savings and efficiency benefits the Authority would benefit, the facility would help reduce the “likelihood of costly accidents and incidents; supports the implementation of risk-based oversight through efficient allocation of resources to areas of higher risk and global credibility aligns NCAA with global best practices, boosting international confidence in Nigerian aviation safety standards.”

Capt. Najomo also said the NCAA went into collaboration with APS Aerospace Corporation which possesses more than 100 years of combined experience in Flight Data and Cockpit/ATC Audio Analysis.

Some other key benefits he listed include: enhanced safety oversight, proactively detecting potential safety risks, enable data-driven decision-making to prevent serious incidents and accidents, and offers critical insights into flight events leading to incidents. o Improves the quality and speed of incident investigations.