In an effort to modernise the nation’s aviation regulations, the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) has announced plans to shorten the Air Operator Certificate (AOC) processing period to roughly ninety days.
Director-General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) Chris Najomo stated that the Modern Personnel Licensing and Certification (MPLC) NCAA Digital Transformation Initiative PEL/MED Stakeholder Engagement would remove bureaucratic bottlenecks related to manual licensing and certification systems.
According to Daily Trust, AOC approval used to take more than five years, and some airlines took longer to complete the five-phase approval process.
However, Najomo revealed that under the current administration, the authority had already shortened the time required to obtain an AOC from one to two years to six to eight months. He emphasised that the new digital platform would further shorten the process to roughly ninety days.
He claims that the programme is in line with international best practices for regulatory effectiveness and safety oversight and marks a significant turning point in Nigeria’s modernisation of aviation oversight.
“Personnel licensing in aviation is crucial for airline operators,” he stated. It is crucial. This holds true for all advanced aviation systems in America.
Airlines are undoubtedly wondering, “When are we going to start?” When will we no longer have to wait a week, two weeks, or occasionally a month for licenses to be issued? However, I assure you that it will end soon. No more waiting will occur.
Najomo clarified that pilots, engineers, aviation medical personnel, and other technical professionals would no longer have to wait for paper-based processing thanks to the fully digital personnel licensing and medical certification platform, which would go into effect on July 2, 2026.
He went on to say that the new platform would enable real-time application tracking and speed up turnaround times, as well as transparent online application procedures for license issuance, renewal, and conversion.
In order to enhance security and compliance, he said the system would also implement biometric-backed credentials and license verification based on QR codes.
In a time when global regulatory compliance, real-time verification, and data integrity have become crucial, the aviation sector can no longer rely on manual and semi-automated processes, dispersed databases, and paper-driven workflows, he stated.
Najomo went on to say that the NCAA’s larger digital transformation agenda began with the implementation of the digital licensing and medical certification platform.
Air Operator Certificate procedures, Approved Training Organisations (ATOs), Approved Maintenance Organisations (AMOs), aerodromes, air navigation service providers, ground handling companies, and approvals for dangerous goods would all be covered in later stages of the programme, he said.
The DGCA also disclosed that technical certification procedures like aircraft registration, airworthiness certification, aircraft maintenance programme approvals, export and import certification of airworthiness, supplemental type certificates, and monitoring of airworthiness directives would be included in the digitalisation initiative.
According to Engineer Godwin Balang, Director of Airworthiness Standards (DAWS), the MPLC project will totally do away with paper-based processing in aviation licensing and certification.
Balang explained that the project was designed to modernise and digitise the authority’s regulatory operations, pointing out that efficient aviation oversight could no longer be handled by hand.
“What my team and I will discover is not something you can accomplish with paper files. Systems are necessary. We are gathered here today for that reason,” he stated.
“In just two years, the Director-General has taken this project from its initial state to its current state. The software’s landing page is what you are viewing on the screen.
It features an organisational approvals module, a technical records module, a personnel licensing module, and a central module. This is a huge area.
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