Aircraft engineers under the aegis of the National Association of Aircraft Engineers (NAAE) have lamented the shortage of manpower across the nation’s airports as well as the lack of operational vehicles in its stations to effectively carry out smooth operations.

National President of NAAE, Ishaya Dung, while meeting with aviation reporters in Lagos during the commemoration of the 2020 World Air Traffic Safety Electronic Personnel Day, disclosed that dearth of personnel has greatly affected the performance of Engineers in meeting up with their statutory obligations.

He added that the responsibilities performed rest on the shoulders of fewer engineers as a result of lack of adequate training.

Dung further revealed that as a result of the shortage of engineers, some of those available have to travel from Lagos to Port Harcourt and other airports when issues arise to address some challenges that surpassed the engineers on ground.

He however commended the Nigeria Airspace Management Agency apart for the improvement in the communication equipment across the country.

“We have adequate navigation surveillance coverage within the Nigerian airspace.

“I wouldn’t say we have enough manpower but the status is not also too poor. We keep drawing the attention of the management of NAMA to some of these issues.”

While revealing that NAMA has 500 engineers across the airports in the country and over 150 engineers have been licensed since he came on board three years ago, Dung, however, called for more hands for effective coverage in the airspace.