The Austrian Ambassador to Nigeria, Mr. Thomas Schlesinger has described the management and safety of the Nigerian air space as world class following the provision of world class Air Traffic Management systems, Communication systems, Surveillance Monitors and Meteorological systems across airports in the country.
He commended the Acting Managing Director of the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA) Mr. Pwajok Matthew Lawrence and his team for enhancing the safety, efficiency and economy of air navigation by partnering with an Australian firm, AVSATEL Communications Limited in the provision of world class equipment and services.
The sophisticated equipment has been deployed at Lagos, Abuja, Kano and Port Harcourt Control Towers under the Safe Tower Project that automated the provision of air traffic services at Nigerian international airports.
Speaking in Abuja during a tour of the facilities, Mr Schlesinger said, “I am very humbled by your responsibility here because the lives of passengers and the lives of military personnel in flight rests in your hands. And that is something which we always have to be reminded of when you rightly recall the sad air accidents of 2005 and 2006 because at that time, you didn’t have this safety critical equipment that has now transformed the air navigation system in Nigeria.”
“So, it is also very reassuring as a private person because we frequently sit in airplanes whether in Nigerian planes or other international planes, and it’s good to know that our safety is guaranteed. And I’m very grateful. I am very impressed by the beautiful work you are doing.”
The NAMA boss, Mr Pwajok said “AVSATEL provided us with one of the best equipment ever, I must confess. One of the very first projects that brought Nigeria to limelight internationally with the provision of automated or electronic air traffic management systems in our Control Towers in 2007. It will be recalled that Nigeria had previously recorded a series of aircraft fatal accidents in 2005 and 2006 and the then government of Nigeria intervened through the Safe Tower project that included meteorological sensors for real-time weather reporting and Low Level Wind-shear Alerting Systems.