The Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) on in Lagos, disclosed that plans were underway to reduce wildlife strike hazard witnessed at airports in the country. Rabiu Yadudu, the Managing Director, FAAN, gave the assurance during the maiden edition of a symposium on Reduction on Wildlife Strike Hazard at Nigerian Airports. Yadudu said that according to International Civil Aviation Organisations (ICAO), wildlife represents 3.6 percent of all aviation incidents. Yadudu said the symposium would ensure that the regulator, airport operators, air traffic providers, airline operators, pilots, wildlife managers, and airport neighbors gain valuable information.

In his remark, the FAAN Director, Airport Operations, Mr. Muktar Muye, said increased air traffic and growing bird population near airports raised the risk of aircraft-bird collision, known as a bird strike. Muye admitted that the primary responsibility for the elimination of collision hazard was on the airport operators. Muye questioned if flights should be delayed to accommodate wildlife management activities and if the crew could rely on data from wildlife management personnel to have safer operations among other questions.

Also, an Arik Air Pilot, Capt. Jide Bakare said the impact of bird strikes on the airline’s operations had been financially intensive to the airline with major impacts in Port Harcourt and Enugu. Bola Ahmed, an official from the Nigeria Airspace Management Agency (NAMA) called for little patience to enable both airport operators and airlines address the issue of bird strikes. He said 127 bird strike cases were recorded in 2019 and 193 recorded in 2017, while 98 and 58 cases were recorded in 2016 and 2015 respectively.