The Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) will launch its Drone/Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems (RPAS) portal during the 6th Africa International Drone Technology Conference and Exhibition, DroneTecX 2026. The event takes place from May 12 to 16 at the NIGAV Expo Centre, Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos State. The announcement was made in a statement issued by Michael Achimugu, NCAA's Director of Public Affairs and Consumer Protection, and shared on the agency's X handle on Saturday.
The new portal is designed to streamline drone operations in Nigeria by centralizing key processes. These include drone registration, operator certification, incident reporting, ownership transfers, and compliance management. The platform will serve individuals, small and medium enterprises, and commercial drone operators. According to the NCAA, the portal consolidates the entire application and approval process into a single digital system.
Operators can submit documents, upload safety case files, and monitor application status in real time. The system ensures compliance with Nigeria Civil Aviation Regulations (Nig. CARs Part 22). The NCAA encouraged stakeholders, drone service providers, and prospective users to access the platform ahead of its official launch. The portal is available at www.rpas.ncaa.gov.ng.
Attendees of DroneTecX 2026 will have the opportunity to see a live demonstration and receive hands-on guidance. The authority said the portal is expected to reduce bureaucratic delays and boost efficiency in the country's drone industry.
The NCAA introduces a digital portal to ease drone regulation while operating in a sector still marked by limited public access to aviation data. The same agency requiring real-time compliance from drone operators has not made historical safety records or enforcement actions publicly available. If transparency is now a standard for drone users, it should also apply to the regulator overseeing them. This move sets a procedural benchmark, but without reciprocal openness, trust in the system remains one-sided.
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