NURTURING DEMOCRACY THROUGH A SAFE AND SECURE NATIONAL AIRSPACE: THE AIR TRAFFIC MANAGEMENT APPROACH.

The above title may not be an unfamiliar expression in the polity as most Societal activities particularly in fledging democracies seek relevance by creating an alliance with the popular Government agenda "Democracy and the society'. However, the level of connectivity of actions in the society and the vehicle of democracy obviously vary especially when weighed against the background of their causal relationships.

Therefore, since Democracy is about people and their social contract with the Government, the birth, nurturing and maturity of this system of social existence derives its support from the ability of persons in the society to accept the abiding responsibility of all participants to promote all activities that guarantee the rights of members of the society to freely, safety and securely move from one part of the society to another in pursuit of social, political or economic goals.

In the same vein, since the advent of technology especially air transportation has helped to reduce the World to a global village, the medium through which such movement occurs has assumed the stature of not only a national asset, but a critical national security apparatus. This is more so, that Nations are now engaged in continuing international and regional/sub regional political, economic, and religious conflicts, which manifests through acts of terrorism and war.

Moreover, students of aviation history all agree that the driving force behind early aviation development were the demands of the Second World War when warring nations and their allies were faced with the need to cover as much expanse of the enemy territory as possible within a short time period to deliver troops and munitions of war. Most recent international aggressions and war/acts of terrorism are carried out in the air while the devastating effects are recorded on the ground. Assailants have truncated most Nation's democracies through air assaults. And the vehicles of these anti-democracy operations are AIRCRAFT.

This means that for any democracy to thrive in a World of terror, the institution or technology used in policing the national airspace must be kept in the front burner in all-National discourse if the quest for nurturing the nation's democracy will have a meaning. The Air Traffic Management apparatus of any nation therefore, must be continually appraised to check for performance capability in satisfying national security objectives and needs.

It is in the light of the foregoing premise that the year 2007 Annual General Meeting / Conference of the Nigerian Air Traffic Controllers' Association holding between 7th-8th of September 2007 in Calabar, the Cross River State capital has chosen the above caption as theme for the AGM/Conference.

Every lover and stakeholder in the safety and Security of the Nigerian Airspace and indeed global air travel in invited to identity in any way positive in actualizing the conference.

Attached is the summary of the event.