New Airspace Agency Headquarters Construction Unnecessary, Says Operator

An aviation analyst, Capt. Muhammed Gbadamasi has stated that the money to be spent on constructing a new headquarters for the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA), should be used to upgrade all the deficient and ailing facilities.

LEADERSHIP reports that NAMA formally signed contractual documents for the construction of its new corporate headquarters and Air Traffic Management (ATM) Centre in Abuja.

However, in a chat with journalists, Capt. Gbadamasi, a former chief pilot for the defunct ADC Airline, stated that the relocation of NAMA’s headquarters from Lagos to Abuja would not impact the agency’s performance and efficiency.

According to him, centralising the control centre is not a guarantee for effectiveness and efficiency in the system.

“I don’t see how the relocation of the headquarters from Lagos to Abuja will change the performance and efficiency of the agency. The money that would be spent on the construction of a new headquarters should be used to upgrade all the deficient and ailing facilities.

“Centralising the control centre is not a guarantee for effectiveness and efficiency in the system. I think it will create more complications than when the two control centres controlled the two upper terminals.”

“When will the Nigerian policymakers realise that not all federal institutions have to be in the federal capital? There are other reasons why it is unwise to move federal institutions to Abuja.”

Capt Gbadamasi, who also worked as a Line Captain at Nigeria Airways, said not every federal government institution should have its headquarters in Abuja.

“What happened to the Central Bank of Nigeria, in which some staff members were moved back to Lagos because of the shortage of office space and accommodation for the large number of staff members, should be a lesson that not every federal government institution should be in Abuja,” Capt. Gbadamasi stated.