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Nigeria’s House of Representatives on Wednesday summoned all the regulatory agencies in the aviation sector, with the view to avert another national calamity.
Those summoned by the House are: management teams of Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), Federal Airport Authority (FAAN) Nigerian Meteorology Agency (NIMET) over the malfunctioning of the Nigerian airlines.
To this end, the House resolved to set up an Ad-hoc Committee on Aviation that will investigate the circumstances that led to the crash landing and opening of Dana aircraft door while it was landing and report back within one week for further legislative action.
The lawmakers specifically tasked Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) on the need to audit the aircrafts being operated by various airlines with the view to ascertain their airworthiness, as part of efforts geared towards averting another calamity.
Some of the concerned lawmakers who spoke during the plenary session, also harped on the need to phase-out use of outdated aircrafts.
The resolution was sequel to the passage of the motion sponsored by Prestige Ossy who
In his lead debate, Ossy, who expressed concern over the recurring cases of crisis rocking the Nigeria’s aviation sector, noted that “Dana Air Limited is a fully privately owned carrier which commenced flight operations on 10 November, 2008 and has been a troubled airline with unpredictable history of accidents and mishaps.”
Other lawmakers who spoke in favour of the motion including Dennis Amadi, Kamale Adamu, Emmanuel Ekon, Edward Pwajok, frowned at the complacency towards ensuring airworthiness of most of the aircrafts operating in the country’s airspace.
According to him, Dana Airline had on the 3rd June 2012, after passengers had boarded the aircraft at the Lagos airport, allegedly delayed from take-off as aeronautic engineers discovered some faults and changed the hydraulic fluid under the left side under carriage tyre mechanism.
“The House also recalls that in the same year, Dana Air Flight 0992 crashed into a two-storey building in Iju-Ishaga, a densely populated area of Lagos state, only four nautical miles from the Murtala Muhammed Airport, killing all 153 passengers on board, and some residents of the building.
“The aircraft, McDonnel Douglas MD 83 was manufactured in 1983 and has had history of mechanical problems with its former owners, US based Alaska Airlines before it was sold to Dana Airline in 2009.
“The House is aware that on 19 February, 2018, Dana Aircraft numbered 9J0363, flying from Abuja to Port Harcourt crash landed at the Port Harcourt International Airport but no casualty was recorded as all passengers on board were evacuated, an incident which occurred due to heavy downpour accompanied with a strong wind and storm in Port Harcourt;
Informed that a few weeks earlier, the same Dana Aircraft had its door opened while landing at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja.
“The House is concerned that the lives and property of passengers may not be safe as a result of the series of mishaps associated with Dana Airline,” Ossy said.
at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja.
He further expressed worry that the lives and property of passengers may not be safe as a result of the series of mishaps associated with Dana Airline.
In his remarks, Kamale Adamu (APC-Adamawa) proposed all the aviation regulators should prevent the use of second hand planes that were over five to eight years.
“It is unfortunate if we don’t have respect for human lives in this country,” he said.
In his contribution, Sergius Ogun (PDP-Edo), also said that the challenge had nothing to do with old planes adding that the regulating agencies were manipulating the system.
“The challenge is not all about the age of the planes it takes the regulator to hand this situation and the regulating agencies are manipulating the system.”
One of the lawmakers alleged that all the aircrafts being operated by Dana are obsolete and operate analogue system, should be phased-out.
To this end, the lawmakers called on NCAA to ascertain the airworthiness of all the aircrafts operating in the country.
KEHINDE AKINTOLA, Abuja
