Obviously, the country’s aviation sector has been in the news again though for wrong reasons which is negatively impacting its image and that of relevant aviation authorities particularly the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA).
In the last one months, the sector had witnessed five incidents involving three of the country’s few domestic airlines still struggling to remain in flying business.
The first incidents involved a Dana Air aircraft, an MD 83 which had one of its emergency door pulled off on landing at the Nnamdi Azikwe International Airport, Abuja which raised serious safety questions.
As the dust was yet to settle, another Dana Air aircraft which took off from Abuja en route Port-Harcourt the same month got enmeshed in another controversy when it overshot the runway on landing at the Port Harcourt Airport.
Not done, Arik Air, another domestic airline joined in the fray when smoke was detected in the cabin of its Dash 8 Q400 aircraft that was on flight W3 304 from Lagos to Accra on March 6, 2018 forcing the pilot in command to declare an emergency 81 nautical miles to airport of disembarkation.
Also it could be recalled that it was around the same time that a Medview Airlines flight from Abuja to Maiduguri was cancelled due to safety reasons.
The latest of this gale of incidents reared its head again when an Aero Contractors flight operated with a Boeing 737/500 aircraft made an emergency landing in Sultan Abubakar III Airport in Sokoto due to a faulty landing gear. The good news is that all these mishaps occurred without any casualty.
While it is expected that these incidents would generate reactions from the public for the obvious fact that such incidents came from a mode of transport regarded as highly delicate and supersonic sort of, however, amidst these happenings, some actions and inactions from different individuals including both relevant and irrelevant have continued to leave sour taste in the mouth of others.
Agreed that people have the right to express themselves when the need arise, but again, such expressions may not be tenable in some circumstances especially when the subject matter falls under critical and technical issues like aviation, a sector which is technically managed in line with global recommended practices and standards.
In other words, when an issue like incidents occur, it’s not for every ‘Tom, Dick and Harry’ to begin to judge or make comments in order not to create panic and complicate issues. After all, incidents in air transport is not peculiar to Nigeria.
Unfortunately, the events that have unfolded since the six air incidents occurred have again exposed the failure of many Nigerians including the lawmakers and other politicians to realize that aviation sector is not a platform to be used to test their strength or the level of rhetorics.
It is very embarrassing that each time issues of incidents or accidents occur, all manner of experts who know next to nothing suddenly come out to run commentaries without waiting for the relevant agency to conclude investigations thus making the sector and the relevant agencies a laughing stock before the global community.
Some of these commentators even descend so low to say certain things that do not make sense and end up ridiculing themselves and the sector in general. Or how on earth will a Senator declared that if an aircraft cannot be maintained in Nigeria that witchcraft should be used as a means to fly in the country.
Where did the senator get the impression that aircraft in Nigeria are not well maintained or is he now a spokesperson for the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) or any of the other agencies in the sector?
With due respect, when issues happen within the sector, people like the senator should stop jumping the gun to run commentaries as the whole world is watching and above all, all these careless talks bounce back on the sector.
Perhaps, the senator and his colleagues at the National Assembly should divert their energy towards what will make the business environment more friendly for the domestic airline operators who are operating under a very terrible atmosphere.
Rather than rush to condemn the aircraft flying in the country because of incidents which happen everywhere, they should allow those in charge of the technical sector to perform their functions. The aviation sector is not meant for all comers.
and then