NAMA begins 24/7 area radar control

Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA), has commenced the provision of 24 hours en-route radar service to airspace users at both the Kano and Lagos Area Control Centres (ACCs).
The area radar service, which hitherto was only available between Mondays and Fridays from 7a.m. to 7p.m. has now been extended to 24hours daily.
The Managing Director, Engr. Ibrahim Abdulsalam, said that “this feat became feasible following an aggressive manpower training by the agency to boost capacity of safety-critical air traffic control and engineering personnel required to provide the service,” stressing that, “with this development, we have further enhanced safety and efficiency in air traffic management, because the use of radar increases capacity to maximise utilisation of available airspace with precision, accuracy and less workload to the Air Traffic Controllers and flight crew, while also enabling aircraft to fly at optimum trajectories.”
Abdulsalam who noted that the non-stop provision of area radar service was in line with the ongoing digitalisation of the Nigerian airspace by the agency, expressed confidence that flight times would be further reduced due to direct routing, translating to reduced fuel consumption by the airlines, and added that round-the-clock radar surveillance would give a boost to the nation’s preparedness in search and rescue operations.