By Stella Enenche, Abuja
The Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) has vowed that it would not desist from sanctioning erring private jet owners who use them for commercial operations .
The Acting Director General, Capt. Chris Najomo disclosed this over the weekend when he hosted the Abuja Transportation and Aviation Correspondents Association (ATACA), in his office in Abuja.
NCAA had recently suspended three private jet owners for carrying out commercial flight operations.
According to the authority, they were involved in violating the annexure provision of their(Permit for Non-Commercial Flights (PNCF)and Part 9114 of the Nigeria Civil Aviation Regulations.
However, the NCAA maintained that ,”we are going to continue to sanction, it is not business as usual. Do the right thing and you would not be grounded. Get your Air Operator Certificate (AOC) and all would be well”.
Najomo charged media practitioners on correct narrative of events that brings about positive impact to the agency, the aviation industry and wealth of the country amongst the league of nations of the world.
The NCAA boss noted that social media was a very powerful tool that could be used for good projection of activities of the country, stating: “we must be very careful of what we chun out daily.”
According to him, “If the body is doing something good, report. Don’t use your pen and paper to blackmail. Investigate properly, cross check with your colleagues for correct information, because, social media is very strong these days.”
Najomo maintained that NCAA was all about ensuring that standards are met hence, “it is about training and retraining. Journalists should do better reports as journalism has gone beyond the surface meaning of journalism.
“We are ready to collaborate in building a better aviation sector devoid of misinformation and tension as the closeness of media professionals to the NCAA would result in a better reportage about the NCAA activities.”
He however called on journalists to refrain from junk journalism of blackmailing as it doesn’t speak well of the profession. “We need all the support from you, we are here to make things seamless,” he concluded.
Speaking earlier, Chairman, Abuja Transportation and Aviation Correspondents (ATACA), Mr. Leonard Oru, commended the DG, NCAA for piloting the affairs of the agency in a professional manner.
Oru, while outlining the activities of the Association to the NCAA boss, however urged the agency to open its door of activities to Journalists for proper coverage.
According to him, “you don’t expect good reportage from a distance. There must be closeness and with that, we avoid beer parlour talks. Aviation is critical and NCAA involves technicalities, so; we seek for more training of our members.”
The ATACA chair, while highlighting further on the activities of the association, briefed Capt. Najomo on the forthcoming seminar, the ATACA Journal, welfare for members and sort for his support to ensure that all its planned events are successful.
He however, thanks the agency for the warm reception, its pledges to work with the sector’s correspondence, the approved training for members and look
forward to a fruitful partnership.
