Why Nigeria recorded zero air accident in 2017 —NAMA boss

THE Managing Director of Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA), Captain Folayele Akinkuotu has attributed the zero accident status recorded in the aviation sector in 2017 to commitments of industry stakeholders to international best practices.

Akinkuotu made this known at a Gateway Forum organized by airport journalists to review issues affecting the sector.

Responding to questions on his stewardship, plans and challenges since he assumed the position of the chief executive officer of the agency a year ago, Akinkuotu while speaking on the achievements recorded by his team at NAMA, said these achievements could not be wished away if the zero accident status the nation recorded in year 2017 are to be sustained this year and beyond.

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According to him, the nation was able to record zero accident in her airspace in the year 2017 because it was a major global thing which the nation had to key into and a goal which we must always strive to achieve.

His words: “The issue of zero accident in 2017 was majorly a global thing and it touched us here. So we should all be happy for it. There is no passenger that leaves his house that wants to travel by air, that his thought will be, is this flight safe? The assumption is that it would be a safe flight. Therefore, zero accident is a goal that we must always strive to achieve. Like any human endeavour, we know that there might be failure, there might be challenges along the way even the space programme. We all remember, we have suffered a few setbacks. Difficult times are not desirable but nonetheless there are lessons to be learnt.