__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Wednesday, May 15, 2013

■ NIGERIA: Princess Stella officially unveils Nigeria's revised National Civil Aviation Policy.

NigeriaThe Nigerian Minister of Civil Aviation, Princess Stella Oduah, has officially unveiled her country's revised dossier on aviation dubbed "the Revised National Civil Aviation Policy 2013" (NCAP) needed, for what it terms, to bring new and sustainable regulatory structures into the industry for the safety and security of airline passengers and crew.

Princess Stella Oduah, Nigeria
Princess Stella Oduah
According to Princess Stella Oduah, the new policy, Nigeria's first in 12 years, covers safety programmes, accident investigation and prevention, the monitoring and control of general aviation, the introduction of an effective search and rescue mechanism as well as the development of an effective and sustainable economic regulatory framework. The revised NCAP 2013 is in line with section 769 (1) of the Civil Aviation Act 2006 and takes into consideration 10 critical aspects of the aviation industry, and "will be reviewed every five years or when necessary.” It is also geared toward restoring sanity in the sector and bringing operations of both scheduled and non-scheduled flight operations to international standard and best practice.

Oduah also pointed out that in addition to restructuring the aviation sector to enable it to drive economic growth in Nigeria and for it to also remain globally competitive, the main agenda set out by government in the revised policy was to develop broader strategic plan to build a stronger, dynamic, private-sector led and liberalised industry that will meet present and future challenges.

In line with the newly reviewed policy, the Minister has also directed that all foreign-registered private jets will not be allowed to stay in the country beyond 15 days. Also, foreign-registered jets on special mission would only be allowed to stay for only 60 days, following special approval from the office of the minister.

Download a copy of the Nigerian Revised National Civil Aviation Policy 2013 here.