NAHCO acquires more equipment to enhance operations
By DANIEL Etegbe
LAGOS – Chairman of the Nigerian Aviation Handling Company, Nahco, Senator Ike Nwachukwu, has said that the company will acquire more equipment that would facilitate its business transaction, adding that it had invested over $10 million to buy more equipment.
Speaking to newsmen shortly after the company was awarded IATA Operational Safety Audit, IOSA, Certification in Lagos, during the IATA Aviation Day, Senator Nwachukwu said that most of the equipment that had been purchased were currently on the high sea.
“Indeed we have a good number of equipment on the high seas and we have invested over $10 million to buy more equipment and when they come in, nahco will be a stronger organisation,” he said.
Commenting on the award of the ISAGO certificate Senator Nwachukwu described it as a plus for nahco and for the aviation industry and Nigeria in general urging other companies to follow suit and bring more achievements to the shores of the country.
“It is a plus for the Nigerian Aviation Industry and I am proud of it, to be certified by IATA, given the ISAGO certification and it mean we are of world standard and I believe that as nahco aviance all the other aviation companies will want to follow suit by doing what they can to achieve this feat for the country and the sub-region because we are the first in the sub region.”
He also said that so long as nahco as a company continued to exist that it would sustain its ISAGO certification as well as serve its customers best.
“We will for all time, not for a very long time, for so long as we are in this business we will work hard towards this, we know what we did to achieve this so we will contribute to the industry and improve on this standard.
Our customers will be better served and they are assured now that nahco is the company to go to if you are talking about aviation handling. We have our program to diversify outside Nigeria we are working pretty hard on that now so this certification will make it easier for us for countries we want to go to, to want to work with us.”
The IATA Safety Audit for Ground Operations (meant to improve safety and reduce cost in the ground environment. Based on the IATA Operational Safety Audit (IOSA) framework, ISAGO aims to implement a formal, systematic process to manage operational risk and safety, reducing accidents, incidents and injuries.
Meanwhile, the Acting Managing Director of the company, Mr Kayode Ojo corroborated that the company had invested about $7.5 million on next_generation equipment, with an additional N13 billion to be invested in the next few months.
According to him, in the last two years the company has invested US$7.5 million (NI.2 billion) in the next generation of equipment stating that the current investment is consistent with its drive for expansion in the African market.
“This investment profile is consistent with our drive for expansion (into the African market) and diversification into other value_adding sectors of the economy and all we want is to make sure we have things which are new and can deliver efficient service and ensure that costs are minimal,” Ojo said.
The equipment to be procured, he said, are: Air conditioner, aircraft Ground Power Units( AGPU), aircraft heaters, aircraft jacks, refuellers and defuellers, towbars, tugs, baggage carts, tractors, belt loaders, containers and others
