By Roland Ohaeri
As the air traffic management (ATM) sector and the aviation industry strive to meet the evolving need for improved ATM facilities and interoperability in air traffic management in Africa, the Agency for the Safety of Air Navigation in Africa and Madagascar (ASECNA) has elected Mr. Prosper Zo’o Minto’o as the new Director General of ASECNA.
Mr. Zo’o Minto’o, of Gabonese nationality, was appointed the new DG of ASECNA at the 74th meeting of the Committee of Ministers of ASECNA held in Dakar, Senegal, on September 27, 2024. The new Director General will assume office on January 1, 2025, for a term of four years that is renewable once.
He will succeed Mr. Mohamed Moussa, a Nigerian national, who became ASECNA DG in 2017 and now serving his second term. Mr. Moussa is credited with improving ASECNA’s capacity and capability and achieving the launch of the Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B) – a core future-based air navigation technology – in 2023. The Committee of Ministers commended Mr. Moussa “for the great resilience to difficulties and the high performances achieved for the benefit of ASECNA and the development of African civil aviation.”
ASECNA Essential For SAATM
Mr. Ousmane Sonko, Prime Minister of the Republic of Senegal, who chaired the opening ceremony of the ASECNA’s 74th Assembly, emphasized the strategic importance of ASECNA for its Member States, noting that ASECNA, which was established over 65 years ago, “has become a world-renowned center of excellence.”
While he extolled ASECNA’s successful adaptation to the very rapid evolution in civil aviation, he enthused that “today our community institution is at the forefront of technology in all areas.”
Also, the Minister of Territorial Administration and Mobility of Burkina Faso, Chairman of the Committee of Ministers, Mr. Emile Zerbo, underlined ASECNA’s significant achievements in recent years, depicting ASECNA as “a valuable tool to support the common will of States to federate the African continent for the collective management of a single and harmonized sky.”
The vision of ASECNA to foster a harmonised sky among its 17 Member States also fits perfectly with the desire of the African Union (AU) to make air transport an essential lever for development in Africa. In this regard, the AU launched the Single African Air Transport Market (SAATM) in January 2018, liberalizing the African sky and promoting connectivity between countries and regions. In fact, ASECNA is described as a template for harmonizing the air transport market in Africa.
Zo’o Minto’o In Familiar Sky
Mr. Zo’p Minto’o is currently the Director of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) Regional Office for West and Central Africa (WACAF) based in Dakar, Senegal, and has been instrumental in the continued promotion of civil aviation standards and recommended practices in the region. He has also been fostering a robust relationship between ICAO and States and aviation institutions including ASECNA in the region.
According to ASECNA, Mr. Zo’o Minto’o is a civil aviation engineer from the National School of Civil Aviation (ENAC) in Toulouse. He also obtained other degrees in Applied Electronics Engineering at the National School of Applied Sciences (INSA) in Toulouse and at the National Higher Institute of Engineers in Libreville.
As Mr. Zo’o Minto’o takes on his new mandate of leading ASECNA’s efforts to transform air traffic management among ASECNA’s 17 States, he is also expected to foster closer collaboration with other Air Navigation Services Providers (ANSPs) in Africa towards achieving the Single African ATM Sky (SAS), which is vital for achieving seamless air interconnectivity and supporting the implementation of SAATM in Africa’s vast airspace.
While Prime Minister Sonko of Senegal described the appointment of a new Director General for ASECNA as a way to secure ASECNA’s continued future development, Mr. Zo’o Minto is poised to lead ASECNA to its next phase of transformation. The new DG will rely mainly on his years of experience and knowledge in Africa’s aviation industry to mark his mark, as the industry looks to work with him in delivering new benefits for ASECNA and Africa’s emerging aviation industry.
