Senate Summons Aviation Minister Over Looming Air Disasters.
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Senate has summoned the Minister of State for Aviation, Hadi Sirika to appear before it to give detailed briefing on the steps that have been taken to minimize human errors and avoid preventable air crashes.
The heads of Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority, NCAA; Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria, FAAN; Accident Investigation Bureau, AIB and every other relevant agency in the aviation industry are to appear alongside with the minister.
Senate’s apprehension in this regard was sequel to a motion sponsored by Sen Olugbenga Ashafa ( APC Lagos East) and 16 other senators across party lines .
National Assembly correspondent Folashade Abdulsalami reports that the Lawmakers also directed that the Minister should immediately direct all relevant agencies in the Aviation Industry to immediately conduct maintenance and airworthiness audit on all commercial aircraft operating within the Nigerian Airspace as well as training of personnel within the industry.
Leading debate on the motion entitled : ” The need to minimize the possibility of Air Mishaps and Near Fatalities in Nigeria ” Sen Ashafa noted with concern the series of near air disaster that occurred in recent times involving the same airline.
He said the occurrences might be a sign of a sequence of human errors, caused by the failure of officials and staff of the agencies saddled with the responsibility of guaranteeing safety to carry out their due diligence before issuing clearance for aircrafts to operate with the Nigerian airspace.
Contributing to the motion, some Lawmakers urged the federal government to urgently intervene to ensure the issue of airline safety is accorded the extent of seriousness it deserves.
The further lamented on the challenges of the aviation sector saying funding has been a huge problem to the very existence of the Airline companies in the Aviation industry.
The Senators subsequently advocated for the declaration of a state of emergency on the Aviation sector.
Deputy President of the Senate, Ike Ekweremadu however concurred to the submissions of the senate saying happenings in the Aviation sector are serious enough to warrant urgent attention in addressing them.
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