The Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA) has rejected a report alleging that it wasted ₦7.58 billion on Instrument Landing Systems (ILS) for Lagos and Abuja airports, saying the approved contract for the project was ₦1.188 billion.
NAMA said the contract covered the supply and installation of Category III-capable Instrument Landing Systems (ILS) and Distance Measuring Equipment (DME) for the two airports.
The agency, in a statement by its Director of Public Affairs and Consumer Protection, Dr Abdullahi Musa, said the contract was awarded to Alolis Geo-Science Nigeria Limited, representing Leonardo SPA, formerly Selex, with approvals from the Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP) and Federal Executive Council (FEC).
It described the ₦7.58 billion figure as fundamentally inaccurate, arguing that the amount originated from a 2019 newspaper estimate based on an assumed cost of about $3 million per runway across seven proposed airport locations.
According to NAMA, the estimate was neither the approved contract sum for the Lagos and Abuja installations nor evidence of expenditure by the agency.
The agency said the decision to downgrade the equipment from CAT III capability to CAT II was driven by operational and safety concerns, rather than waste.
NAMA said problems with the system emerged from the time of installation and persisted until the International Air Transport Association (IATA) raised concerns about its safety and its tendency to transmit misleading parameters to aircraft.
It added that reports from air traffic controllers, its Safety Management System unit, international airlines and air traffic engineers also highlighted the need to address the equipment’s reliability.
The agency said pilots had reported that the equipment could take aircraft off course during final approach or shut down completely, prompting international airlines to rely on Lagos Runway 18L.
NAMA subsequently engaged relevant stakeholders and, with approval from the supervising ministry, replaced the system with CAT II capability pending the availability of facilities required for full CAT III operations.
NAMA also disputed the suggestion that installing CAT III-capable ILS automatically makes an airport operational under CAT III conditions.
It explained that CAT III operations require an integrated aviation infrastructure, including calibrated ILS, approved instrument approach procedures, appropriate runway and touchdown-zone lighting, runway visual-range reporting, reliable primary and standby power, protected ILS areas and low-visibility procedures.
The agency said compatible aircraft, certified operators and properly trained flight crews were also required.
According to NAMA, responsibility for the various components is shared among different aviation agencies, with FAAN responsible for airfield ground lighting and airport power, NAMA providing navigation and air traffic infrastructure, and NCAA regulating and approving operations.
The agency said operational records contradicted claims that the systems “never worked for one day.”
It said facilities at Lagos Runway 18R and Abuja Runway 22 were subsequently commissioned, certified and promulgated for operation in February 2020 following realignment, recalibration and validation.
However, NAMA acknowledged that subsequent integrity and serviceability problems occurred, particularly in Lagos, eventually making continued reliance on the installation unacceptable.
It said the Selex platform also created concerns around fleet commonality, training, spare parts and lifecycle support, given NAMA’s greater maintenance familiarity with Thales and Indra systems.
NAMA also clarified the cost and scope of the second phase of the ILS/DME project.
According to the agency, the second phase covered Mallam Aminu Kano International Airport, Port Harcourt International Airport and Katsina Airport, rather than Maiduguri and Sokoto as reported.
The initial approved sum was ₦1.825 billion, while an additional ₦546.11 million brought the total approved project value to ₦2.371 billion.
NAMA said implementation was affected by funding constraints and concerns about replicating reliability, commissioning, spare-parts and lifecycle-support challenges experienced during the first phase.
NAMA also rejected allegations from anonymous sources that the project was used to “corner” public funds.
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The agency said no audit finding, judicial decision, procurement investigation or competent determination had been cited to establish such wrongdoing.
It similarly defended its handling of the Total Radar Coverage of Nigeria (TRACON) project, saying the core architecture had been deployed for more than 15 years and that critical hardware had become increasingly obsolete.
NAMA said Nigeria now requires a more resilient surveillance architecture combining primary and secondary radar with technologies such as ADS-B and wide-area multilateration.
On the Aeronautical Information Services (AIS) automation project, the agency said the current management inherited the contractual obligation and had continued to implement it, with payment now close to full settlement.
It, however, stressed that settling an inherited contract did not mean its original technical specifications remained adequate for current aviation requirements.
NAMA said it remained committed to transparency and accountability, but maintained that estimates should not be presented as contract sums and safety interventions should not be characterised as waste.
The agency said it would continue to prioritise the safety of the flying public, stressing that downgrading or replacing safety-critical equipment when its operational integrity becomes questionable was part of responsible airspace management.
