Air crash: Stakeholders advocate confab on aviation woes

By LOUIS IBA
Nigeria needs to convoke a stakeholder conference if the many problems in the aviation sector is to be effectively resolved, experts said on Thursday.
The experts, who spoke against the background of the recent demand for the sack of Stella  Oduah, the Aviation Minister following the crash of the Associated Airline in Lagos which claimed 15 lives, said Oduah’s removal would do the industry no good as what was urgently required was a gathering of experts from all facets of the industry to x-ray its problems and proffer lasting solutions.
“It is time stakeholders gather and demand for solutions to the intractable air accidents in the country,” said aviation security consultant, Captain Balarabe Usman.
“There is no where it is written in the nation’s constitution that if there is air crash that the Minister should resign; rather what should be done now is to find ways to prevent future accidents,” Usman added.
Usman said whosoever wants to effect positive changes in the industry must be ready to jolt the status quo and ensure strict compliance to safety laws.
Usman who said that the opposition are cashing in on the crash to pressure the removal of Oduah said that there are more air crashes in the United States of America than any other part of the world, yet the country is said to have the highest safety record in the world because it has strict regulation system, which Nigeria is building now.
“If you go to the US National Transport Board website you will see that the average number of accidents involving civil aviation aircraft every month is about 25. I can tell you and you can confirm this that in January 2013 there were 30 accidents with 62 fatalities. In February there were 28 accidents with 50 fatalities. In March 31 accidents with 59 fatalities and in April 30 accidents with 44 fatalities.”
Usman, former director of Aviation Security in the Federal airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), noted that most of these were general aviation accidents, including charter operations, private air services and few airliners, adding that there are thousands of aircraft flying over American airspace, unlike in Nigeria.
President, Centre for Aviation Safety and Research (CASR), Mr. Sheri Kyari lamented that the responsibility to ensure the safety of airlines had been shifted to the Federal Government and not the airline, which is the standard practice accordance to the regulation of the International Civil Aviation Organsiation (ICAO).
“The responsibility of the direct safety of an aircraft is that of the airline. So for the people blaming Princes Stella Oduah for the  Associated Airline I can’t really understand.”
Said Kyari, “The NCAA which regulates the industry does so as an oversight function and just in case they are not doing that oversight on the safety of the airline then it is unfortunate. But definitely if that aircraft was on ground, I should be confident to say that NCAA was in the know; that the aircraft was on ground; it was not flying. And if the aircraft was to be put into operation, what did NCAA do the time it was on ground and when it went back to service? But whatever happened in that interim, the airline has certified engineers and pilots to effectively manage the safety of the aircraft.”