Why US delisted Nigeria from category one status – NCAA
CHIGOZIE AMADI
The Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority has explained that the United States Federal Aviation Administration delisted Nigeria from Category One Status of the International Aviation Safety Assessment programme due to the lack of Nigerian airlines that directly ply the United States routes for two years.
This means that Nigerian carriers will not be able to operate directly to any city or airport in the US until the country is re-audited and re-certificated by the USFAA and returned to its former status.
Nigeria gained the USFAA CAT One Status in August 2010 after a rigorous exercise that spanned about five years.
However, due to the combined factors of a drop in standards and the failure of any Nigerian airline to operate directly to the US for seven years, some stakeholders said the country lost the rating.
An investigation earlier published on Monday by a national newspaper unravelled the development.
In a swift reaction through a statement personally signed by the acting Director-General of NCAA, Chris Najomo, the agency explained that to operate in the United States of America, Nigeria like most countries, must satisfactorily pass the International Aviation Safety Assessment Programme and attain Category One Status.
“Upon attaining this status, Nigerian airlines would be permitted to operate Nigerian registered aircraft and dry-leased foreign registered aircraft into the United States, in line with the existing Bilateral Air Services Agreement.
“The first time Nigeria attained Category One Status was in August 2010. The US Federal Aviation Administration conducted another safety assessment on Nigeria in 2014. A further safety assessment was conducted on Nigeria in 2017, after which Nigeria retained her Category One status.
“However, with effect from September 2022, the US Federal Aviation Administration de-listed Category One countries who, after a two-year period, had no indigenous operator providing service to the US or carrying the airline code of a US operator,” the NCAA stated on Monday.
It added, “Also removed from the Category One list were countries to who the FAA was not providing technical assistance to based on identified areas of non-compliance to international standards for safety oversight.
“No Nigerian operator has provided service into the United States using a Nigerian registered aircraft within the two years preceding September 2022. So it was expected that Nigeria would be de-listed as were other countries that fell within this category. Nigeria was, therefore, de-listed in 2022 and was duly informed of this action in 2022.”
He however added that delisting the country counted no safety offence against any Nigerian airline, adding that aviation in the country has undergone necessary safety and security audits.
“It is important to clarify here that the de-listing of Nigeria has absolutely nothing to do with any safety or security deficiency in our oversight system. Nigeria has undergone comprehensive ICAO Safety and Security Audits and recorded no Significant Safety Concerns or Significant Security Concerns respectively.
“It is furthermore necessary to add that a Nigerian operator can still operate in the US using an aircraft wet-leased from a country that has a current Category One status,” Najomo noted.
