Impact of Information and Communications Technology on the Operations of the Nigerian Airspace Management in Southwestern Nigeria

As against the mission and vision of the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA), the airspace is unsafe for users despite the technologies on ground. Therefore, this study seeks to assess the impact of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) on the operations of the Nigerian Airspace Management, especially as touching the safety of all airspace users, the staff and the passengers alike. The study was conducted in Southwest geopolitical region of Nigeria and focused on all the NAMA stations located in all the airports in the region. However, for the selection of respondents, random sampling was used to select the participants for this research based on their availability. Primary data were collected through structured questionnaire. In the questionnaire administered, the impact of ICT was broadly classified into Safety and Communication impact; and economic impact. These were administered among 200 members of staff from four different departments in NAMA that handle major operations in the management of airspace, namely ICT department; Aeronautical Information Services (AIS) department; Air Traffic and Safety Electronics Services (ATSES) department; and Air Traffic Control (ATC) department. Fifty (50) members of staff were randomly selected from each of these departments in all the three airports under study, making two hundred (200) participants for the study. The results showed that more efficient use of the airspace; better resource utilization; reduction in the workload of the air traffic controller; increased productivity; efficient air-ground linkage; and safe and secure data werethe highest ranked impact of ICT on the operations of the Nigerian airspace management. Reduction in fraud cases, reduction in flight delay and reduction in dependence on outsourcing were the lowest ranked economic impact of ICT on the operations in the Nigerian airspace management.