ABUJA – The Minister of Aviation, Mr Osita Chidoka, said on Tuesday that the Ministry of Aviation would collaborate with U.S. experts on safety and security, to ensure safety in air transportation.
Chidoka made this known when the U.S. Ambassador, Mr James Entwistle, visited him in his office in Abuja on Tuesday.
He said Nigeria and the U.S. had been cooperating in the areas of capacity building, and improvement in regulatory and commercial activities.
“The key focus of the sector is on safety and security at our airports and we will be talking with U.S. experts on safety and security.
“In the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Category One, we did a lot on safety and security standard at the airports.
“But now, we are going to deepen in that, to ensure that our system is of world class such that the U.S. FAA certification process will be just easy,’’ Chidoka said.
Earlier, Entwistle said that the essence of his visit was to talk on crucial areas of cooperation in the aviation sector.
He said that the U.S. Government was ready to work with the Nigerian aviation sector, noting that Chidoka would soon be discussing with some U.S. government agencies on safety and security.
“The U.S. and Nigeria have always worked closely, so we are just discussing on some new exciting opportunities in the aviation sector.’’ [eap_ad_1] On Ebola challenge, he commended the Federal Government and public health officials for implementing effective containment measures.
“I visited your Emergency Operation Centre in Lagos and I must say I was impressed; they are doing a good job; and when the news of Ebola spread to Port Harcourt, the response was also quick that was remarkable.
“And the key to this is contact tracing, public information and isolation; you had all these things and your government is doing a good job.
“The U.S. Government, especially the Centre for Disease Control is glad to help. The situation in Nigeria on Ebola is fundamentally different from the situation in Liberia and Sieore Leone.
“The important thing is that all the cases in Nigeria so far can be traced back to the original index case; that is good news because your contact tracing is doing a good job,’’ Entwistle said.
He said that of recent when he flew into Abuja from Europe he was impressed that everybody in the aircraft was given a form to fill, including their seat number.
“I believe this will help in case there is any challenge of one infected with the disease a contact can easily be traced. (NAN)
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