Nigeria's National Association of Aircraft Pilots and Engineers (NAAPE) has
come out in support of Nigerian Senate & House of Representatives whose recent Joint Committee on Aviation Report unequivocally condemned the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) as being staffed by "unqualified persons working as Aircraft Inspectors" and which recommended the immediate withdrawal of Dana Air's (9J) Air Operators Certificate, reinstated in early December."Those who question the competence of the National Assembly should remember that the Joint Committee on Aviation carried out painstaking investigation into the crash, which involved open and private hearings. And the conclusions of the committees were gleaned from presentations by professionals and relevant stakeholders. It would therefore amount to betrayal of sorts for those who supplied such information to the committee to turn round and accuse the committees of using same information."
Source [Leadership]
In their report entitled "The Crash of Dana and Allied Aircraft", the Nigerian Senate and House of Representatives Joint Committee on Aviation "exposed the many flaws of the aviation industry leading to such aviation mishaps and loss of lives".
Amongst the recommendations and notes made are that:
- The Director-General of the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority, Dr. Harold Demuren, be sacked for incompetence, corruption, and alleged professional misdeeds,
- Dana Air be stopped from flying, on the grounds that “it was not issued in compliance with NCAA Regulations Guidelines 2009”
- Minister of Aviation, Stella Oduah, flouted the House report by authorising Dana Air to resume operations on January 4 while lawmakers were on break.
- Engineer Suleiman, who did the inspection on the Dana Air plane which eventually crashed, should be dismissed,
- investigative reports of past crashes such as the two 2005 tragedies of the Sosoliso Airlines DC 9 crash in Port Harcourt, and the Bellview Airlines 737 crash near Lisa, be made public,
- the Central Bank of Nigeria is to “recover the NGN35.5billion Intervention Funds extended to Air Nigeria (VK) through the United Bank for Africa, but which was diverted to other private usage.”
- The Senate also rejected the recommendation of pumping more money into the Aviation sector in the form of an intervention fund.
Source [The Nigerian Senate]
Overall reaction to the report ended in claims by some Senators that the Nigerian aviation industry is "a disaster waiting to happen," with others warning about "powerful interests who will go to any length to ensure that the contents of the report are not implemented."
