Before now, many had begun to take the sector seriously following the confidence it brought back to the traveling public.
This support culminated in the award of category one aviation status to the country in 2010 by the U.S. apex aviation regulatory body, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).
Before then, Nigeria became a signatory to the Cape Town Convention, which made it possible for the country to purchase newer aircraft at reasonable interest rate.
The Cape Town Convention on International Interests in Mobile Equipment or Cape Town Treaty is an international treaty intended to standardise transactions involving movable property.
The treaty creates international standards for registration of ownership (including dedicated registration agencies), security interests (liens, leases and conditional sales contracts and various legal remedies for default in financing agreements, including repossession and the effect of particular states’ bankruptcy laws.
For the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA), the story is the same. The agency, with the assistance of the Federal Government acquired state of the art radar for air traffic surveillance. The installation of the equipment, popularly known as Total Radar Coverage of Nigeria (TRACON) increased Nigeria’s airspace security.
One agency that had come under the searchlight apart from NAMA and NCAA is the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), which many believe has not lived up to expectation. Just recently, the agency in collaboration with the Ministry of Aviation embarked on controversial airports remodeling project that appear unending.
Not a few people believe that rather than the open display of emotion (weeping) at a news briefing on the crash of DANA’s airplane, the minister should map out strategy to address pressing areas of aviation safety.
Constant invitation of aviation chief executives to Abuja over mundane and unserious issues should stop to allow for proper concentration on the job.
The equipment installed in 2010 after several years of delay would help to enhance civil and military surveillance of aircraft operating into the Nigerian airspace.
All these coupled with installation of Very High Radio Frequency (VHF) help to give the airspace some forms of security.
With all these equipment, there was no doubt that the airspace was far better than it was in 2005 when Nigeria recorded two devastating air disasters.
First was Bellview aircraft crash in Lisa killing all passengers on-board the airliner. Three weeks after that, Sosoliso also crashed, killing virtually all the passengers, including students of Loyola Jesuit College, Abuja.
What could have happened to DANA Flight 0992, which crashed 11 nautical miles to the Murtala Muhammed Airport, Lagos?
Could it be that DANA cut corners in its flight maintenance procedure? Could it also be that the NCAA momentarily lost concentration in its oversight function? Could it also be that there was pilot error? Could it be that the engineers did not do a thorough job in the certification of the ill-fated aircraft? All these are posers that only the Accident Investigation Bureau (AIB) would be able to unravel in a couple of months.
DANA Air flight 0992 from Abuja to Lagos declared an emergency and “Mayday” minutes later with the Lagos control tower at 11 nautical miles to Murtala Muhammed Airport.
“Mayday” is an emergency procedure word used internationally as a distress signal in voice procedure radio communications. It derives from the French venez m’aider, meaning, “come help me.”
It is used to signal a life-threatening emergency primarily by mariners and aviators, but in some countries local organisations such as police forces, firefighters, and transportation organisations also use the term.
The call is always given three times in a row (“Mayday Mayday Mayday”) to prevent mistaking it for some similar-sounding phrase under noisy conditions and to distinguish an actual “Mayday” call from a message about a Mayday call.
Experts insisted that for the industry to be sanitised, there was the need for recertification of all airlines operating in the country, just as accusation that airlines operate geriatric airplanes is becoming louder by the day.
John Ojikutu, a retired group captain in the Nigerian Airforce recently advised that government should immediately rise to the needs of Nigerian airlines by enforcing economic and commercial regulations.
Commercial regulations require that airlines and support operators’ financial balance sheets must be opened periodically to the established or authorised regulatory economic and financial agency and the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA).
To sustain regular safe operations, airlines and support services operators must be financially disciplined and with backups especially for periodic aircraft maintenance and services, insurance, air and ground support services facilities, salaries and taxes, bank loans and lease obligations.
The Assistant Secretary General of Airline Operators of Nigeria (AON) Muhammed Tukur said that there was a blanket of mourning in Nigeria because of the unfortunate incident, adding that in the midst of the pain, anger had sufficed.
The AON scribe reiterated that the stability the industry had witnessed in the last six years had had a positive impact on insurance premium of the airlines, which was put at 0.1 per cent.
Aviation analyst, Francis Ayigbe said that insurance premium paid by Nigerian airline operators might be higher in view of the fact that international lessors would now see Nigeria as a high-risk end, aviation wise.
While emotions are understandably high, Tukur stated that there was the need for restraint in comments.
Government sets up committees
Just on Wednesday as usual, President Goodluck Jonathan set up a nine man technical and administrative panel that will audit all airlines operating in the country.
The Minister of Aviation later gave the names of members of the committee as Group Captain John Obakpolor; Captain Austin Omame, Capt Dele Sasegbon, Dr. O.B. Aliu, Mr. Fidelis Onyeyiri, Capt. Mfon Udom, Capt. Muktar Usman, Dr. Anthoby Anuforom and Capt. A. Mshelia.
The government does not need to set up a committee. What it should have done was to completely implement Air Marshal Paul (rtd), which experts believe, is the way forward to rescuing the sector. Dike report and that of Justice Nwazota panel they believe could help some of the problems that were yet to be tackled.
Equally of great importance is the appointment of some members of the Panel.
One name that has come under scrutiny is the appointment of Onyeyiri whose tenure as the Director General of NCAA recorded three devastating crashes, namely, Bellview, Sosoliso and ADC in 2005.
Former president Olusegun Obansanjo in the wake of the crashes, who on hearing that airlines with the active participation of the NCAA were ‘cutting corners’ had told prof. Babalola Borishade “ is this man,t he person you have as DG, well I am sorry, you don’t have anybody’.
One hopes that the setting up of a committee side-by-side AIB would not be a systematic way of sweeping this accident under the carpet and one also hopes that victims of the unfortunate accident would not have died in vain.
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