Why we plan public hearing on alleged substance abuse by Nigerian pilots —Buhari, Senate Committee on Aviation chair

Chairman, Senate Committee on Aviation, Senator AbdulFatai Buhari, has said the decision of the Senate to hold a public hearing on Thursday on the allegation of substance abuse against Nigerian pilots is based on the safety of lives and national interest.

Buhari spoke at the weekend against the backdrop of the controversy stirred by the claim by a former governor of Abia State and Senate Chief Whip, Senator Orji Uzor Kalu, at a plenary in the Senate, alleging drug use among some pilots, and called on the authorities to take necessary actions.

“On many occasions, I have stopped to fly because of inadequacy of pilot’s preparation; some of the pilots are not prepared. Some of them use Indian hemp,” Orji said.

The allegation by the senator drew spontaneous flak from the National Association of Aircraft Pilots and Engineers (NAAPE), which challenged the Abia senator to either provide verifiable evidence to support his claims or issue an immediate public retraction and apology.

The association reiterated that Nigerian pilots are subject to strict regulatory, medical, and ethical standards as established by the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority, in line with global protocols set by the International Civil Aviation Organisation. These include regular and random drug and alcohol testing.

According to him, the Minister of Aviation, Festus Keyamo and other top players in the industry will be on hand to speak on a number of trending issues in the sector, as no fewer than 60 invitations have been sent out to them.

The senator said there are lots of petitions bordering on activities in the Nigerian aviation industry, some of which have to do with indiscriminate hike in airfare with the industry operators blaming the trend on cost of acquiring aircraft coupled with high lending rates by banks.

He also identified flight cancellations by airline operators with the negative effects on the personal schedules of passengers and other categories of customers of the airlines.

“Secondly is the arbitrary cancellation of flights. It does not give you room to plan your journey; if you do, you will miss that appointment. It puts you under pressure, the only way is you leave your home at 10 am till 10 pm; they will be loss of appointments.

“Sometimes, they blame it on technical problems. So, this has been a source of worry for me as the chairman of the committee on aviation in the Senate,” Buhari said.

He said the public hearing was not meant to witch hunt anybody but to address those core issues that prevalent in the sector and proffer the way forward, adding that there is no plan to sweep them under the carpet.

“There is no intention to victimise anybody. We will look out for what we are supposed to that we may not be doing now or we have not done so far. When you are faced with this kind of scenario, you don’t gloss over the issue.  So, we will compile the report and submit it to the Senate.

“All the agencies have been invited; we have over 60 invitations. The minimum time or notice we give in such circumstances is a week, but we made it three weeks this time. The planned public hearing is not about the airline alone; it is about our lives; it is about the industry,” he said.

He also advocated the need for improved public awareness on the rights of passengers when those rights are being infringed upon by airlines, just as he identified cancellation of flights as part of the rising concern of many passengers.

On the rising number of states establishing airports when the public perception is that majority of the federal airports are not viable, Senator Buhari said the existence of more airlines, coupled with healthy competition are necessary ingredients to bolster the sector.