….Says Contract Was ₦1.19bn
BY OLAPEJU OLUBI
The Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA) has vehemently rejected claims that it wasted ₦7.58 billion on Category III Instrument Landing Systems (ILS) installed at the Lagos and Abuja airports.
NAMA, in a statement signed by its Director, Public Affairs and Consumer Protection, Dr Abdullahi Musa, said the report published on September 11 contained “fundamental factual inaccuracies, technical misconceptions and allegations unsupported by procurement and operational records.”
The agency said the actual approved contract for the supply and installation of CAT III-capable ILS and Distance Measuring Equipment (DME) for Lagos and Abuja was ₦1.188 billion, not ₦7.58 billion.
According to NAMA, the contract was awarded to Alolis Geo-Science Nigeria Limited, representing Leonardo SPA, formerly Selex, with the required approvals from the Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP) and the Federal Executive Council (FEC).
It explained that the ₦7.58 billion figure cited in the report came from a 2019 newspaper estimate which assumed a cost of about $3 million per runway and applied it to seven proposed airport locations.
NAMA stressed that the figure was neither the approved contract sum for Lagos and Abuja nor evidence of money spent by the agency on the two installations.
It said converting the disputed figure to ₦30.02 billion using current exchange rates did not turn an estimate into actual government expenditure.
“report cited no contract, payment certificate, appropriation, audit finding or other official record establishing that either ₦7.58 billion or ₦30.02 billion was awarded or paid for the Lagos and Abuja installations,” the agency said.
NAMA also rejected the report’s description of the project as simply an ILS antenna, explaining that the procurement covered CAT III-capable ILS/DME ground equipment.
It said an ILS consists of a localiser, which provides lateral guidance, and a glide path, which provides vertical guidance, making the localiser an integral part of the system.
The agency further explained that installing CAT III-capable equipment alone does not automatically make an airport capable of CAT III operations.
For such operations to begin, it said an airport needs a complete system involving a properly calibrated ILS, approved approach procedures, runway and approach lighting, runway visual-range equipment, reliable primary and standby power, protected ILS areas, low-visibility procedures, as well as CAT III-compliant aircraft and trained flight crews.
NAMA said several of these requirements fall under the responsibilities of other aviation agencies and stakeholders.
According to the agency, the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) is responsible for airfield ground lighting and airport power at airports it manages, while the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) regulates and approves operations. Meteorological services and the capabilities of aircraft and flight crews are also required.
It therefore argued that the failure to provide complementary airport facilities should not be blamed on NAMA or used as evidence that the agency failed to provide the ILS.
On the Lagos Runway 18R installation, NAMA said the CAT III system developed operational and safety concerns after installation, with pilots reporting that it could take aircraft off course during final approach or switch off unexpectedly.
It said international airlines subsequently resorted to Runway 18L, while the lighting facilities needed for CAT III operations were unavailable.
The agency said the International Air Transport Association (IATA) also raised concerns about the safety of the equipment and its tendency to transmit misleading parameters to aircraft.
NAMA added that it received several reports from air traffic controllers, its Safety Management System unit, international airlines and air traffic engineers, prompting action to address the problem.
It said the equipment was eventually downgraded to CAT II and later replaced after consultation with relevant stakeholders and approval by the supervising ministry.
“The product was replaced to protect the flying public due to the erratic malfunctioning observed since its installation,” the agency said.
NAMA, however, disputed the claim that the systems “never worked for one day”, saying its operational records showed that the Lagos Runway 18R and Abuja Runway 22 facilities were commissioned, certified and promulgated for operation in February 2020 after realignment, recalibration and validation.
The agency admitted that integrity and serviceability problems later emerged, particularly in Lagos, making continued reliance on the installation unacceptable.
It also cited concerns about fleet compatibility, training, spare parts and long-term maintenance support, noting that NAMA’s maintenance environment was more familiar with Thales and Indra systems.
It said withdrawing, downgrading or replacing safety-critical equipment when its reliability becomes questionable should be viewed as a safety measure rather than waste.
NAMA also clarified reports about the second phase of the ILS programme.
It said the second phase covered Mallam Aminu Kano International Airport, Port Harcourt International Airport and Katsina Airport, not Maiduguri and Sokoto as reported.
The initial approved cost was ₦1.825 billion, while an additional ₦546.1 million brought the total approved project value to ₦2.371 billion.
Implementation, it said, was affected by funding constraints and concerns about repeating the reliability, commissioning, spare-parts and long-term support problems experienced in the first phase.
On allegations that the project was used to “corner” public funds, NAMA said no audit finding, court decision, procurement investigation or other competent determination was cited to support the allegation.
The agency also disputed the report’s account of the Total Radar Coverage of Nigeria (TRACON) project.
It said the core TRACON system had been deployed for more than 15 years and that critical hardware had become obsolete, with replacement parts and manufacturer support increasingly difficult to obtain.
According to NAMA, the original equipment manufacturer, Thales, has proposed replacing the system rather than carrying out another limited upgrade.
It said Nigeria now needed a stronger surveillance system combining primary and secondary radar with technologies such as Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B) and wide-area multilateration.
On the Aeronautical Information Services (AIS) automation project, NAMA said the current management inherited the contract and did not award or initiate it.
The agency said it had continued to meet its inherited contractual obligations, with payment now close to full settlement.
However, it stressed that settling an old contract did not mean that its original technical specifications remained suitable for current aviation needs.
NAMA said international standards for digital aeronautical information management, data exchange, cybersecurity and system-wide information management had changed significantly since the project began.
It also clarified that AIS automation should not be confused with VHF voice communication between pilots and air traffic controllers, as both are separate aviation services.
NAMA said it remained committed to transparency and accountability, but urged journalists to distinguish between estimates and actual contract sums, procurement and operational performance, and safety interventions and waste.
It said the agency would continue to prioritise the safety of Nigerian airspace and would not keep using safety-critical equipment simply to protect an investment when its operational reliability had become questionable.
Olapeju is a journalist and aviation reporter.
