While we can celebrate that it has been relatively accident-free in the last several years, our scheduled domestic subsector of the aviation industry still needs help in several ways. However, recent incidents involving local airlines have revealed that the nation’s aviation authorities need to sit up to avoid a situation where the nation could be thrown into mourning as a result of serious accident.
In the last few weeks, near calamities have occurred. And they are mostly while landing the aircraft. But on takeoff an airline once had a man who authorities later identified as a Nigerien seen trying to climb an aircraft taxing to take off from Lagos to Port Harcourt.
In fact the man who was later described as unstable threw his bag into the engine compartment of the plane as he climbed the wings to the shock of helpless passengers. It was an Azman flight. Till date we have not heard anything again about investigations.
Also, tragedy was averted on June 22, 2019 when an Air Peace aircraft overshot the runway. Barely four days later, another Air Peace flight crash-landed in Lagos in bad weather, losing its nose tyres. No loss of lives or serious injuries to passengers and crew was recorded in the incidents.
These serial misses remind Nigerians of what it was in the past. They will never forget the last air accident experienced in the sector on October 3, 2013, when an Associated Airline Flight 361 crashed on take-off from the Murtala Mohammed International Airport (MMIA), killing 15 of the 20 persons on board. The aircraft, a twin turboprop Embraer 120, was conveying the remains of a former governor of Ondo State, Olusegun Agagu, to Akure when the incident happened. This was after the sector was riddled with intermittent air crashes which questioned the safety measures of the regulatory authority. Five years down the line, the industry has maintained an accident-free record.
Though the aviation authorities carried out its investigations thereafter and gave a clean bill of health for all the airlines and agencies across board, we believe there is need for deeper audit of our aviation sector.
Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority, NCAA, has said that despite the “isolated” incidents, it is on top of the situation”. It has continued to reassure air travelers that “there is no cause for worry”, as all aircrafts on the fleet of NCAA authorised Air Operators Certificate (AOC) holders operating in Nigeria are air-worthy.” In spite of these assurances by the aviation authorities, analysts are of the opinion that the accident-free feat recorded in the last five years must be sustained and improved upon to get more people flying and then improve the stand of the country’s aviation sector.
And the way to achieve this is not to introduce our legendary impunity. There are reports of regular bypass of standards as a result of corruption. Airline operators and regulators in some way are deep in a relationship that sometimes upsets standards. Aviation is a highly volatile industry. Little human error, negligence or official gaffe can precipitate loss of lives beyond imagination. This is why the sector is highly regulated for the good of millions of people who travel by air. The recent reported incidents call for a system overhaul. We submit that, as a matter of urgency, the authorities should address security lapses at the nation’s airports.
Also, standard service delivery at our airports is not improving. Toilets are still poor, government agents are still there collecting bribes, stalling smooth clearing of passengers especially at the international wing. Our Immigration, Customs and others need to upgrade their service not devise new methods of taking bribes or harassing travelers on end. Meanwhile, stowaway on an aircraft constitutes the highest degree of security lapse. If someone can make his way to the airside without being seen, it means all the checks at the airport are not effective.
That scary incident, in our view, is a wake-up call to the government. There should be enough security apparatus for operatives to work with. Experts described the stowaway incident as a threat to national security and should be handled beyond the level of FAAN. It should be made a matter for Department of State Services.
Airport security is not just a national security concern, it is international. The problem of access to the airport had been lingering for close to two decades. The International Civil Aviation Organisation had recommended that a secondary perimeter fence should be built to support the existing one. But nothing has been done since the recommendation was made in 2004.
With Boko Haram still active, it is a shame that anybody, much less a foreigner will access a taxing aircraft in 2019. We need to get serious please. There is need for a total overhaul of aviation security across airports in the country. As we await the new Federal Executive Council inauguration, we hope the new minister will be a hands-on regulator. The industry needs care like a cradle.
