The Nigerian Airspace Management Authority (NAMA) did not get the waiver it requested from the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) to clear the CAT111 navigation aids equipment from the Lagos seaport.
The Managing Director of NAMA, Capt. Fola Akinkuotu, said this on Sunday while briefing newsmen in Lagos.
He said that rather NAMA had to pay over N100 million to clear the imported equipment worth about one billion naira.
He said, “CATIII is a modern Instrument Landing System (ILS) approach used in low visibility weather condition. They are specialised instruments installed at airports to assist pilots to fly at almost zero visibility.”
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that NAMA, on January 9 , had said that the idea behind the installation of CAT III instrument landing systems in strategic airports was borne out of the need to enhance safety.
NAMA’s General Manager, Mr Kalid Emele, in a statement added that the installation would also ensure efficiency, access and seamlessness of flight operations in the airspace, especially, during the harmattan .
Akinkuotu told newsmen that the equipment had been at the seaport for about six months before they were eventually cleared and deployed in the last quarter of 2019.