By Adekunle Williams and Solomon Asowata
A pressure group, the Aviation Round Table (ART), on Thursday said Nigeria must do everything possible to continuously retain its Category One Status.
The President of the ART, Mr Gbenga Olowo, gave the advice while speaking with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos.
Olowo said the ART was delighted with Nigeria’s recent retention of its Category One Status after a successful re-certification audit conducted on the nation’s aviation facilities by the United States Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).
“Of course, we need Category One and we must do everything not to lose it. The Cat. 1 is essentially confidence in our Civil Aviation Authority (CAA).
“What it does is that aeroplanes from our jurisdiction can fly directly to the United States. This means that our CAA is doing what it is supposed to do in terms of safety and security. So we must continue to protect it by doing the right things,” he said.
Olowo, however, faulted the recent directive by the Federal Government for a comprehensive audit on the operations of Dana Air due to two near mishaps suffered by the Nigerian carrier.
The ART president argued with the government had no business in interfering in such issues because it fell under the statutory responsibility of the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA).
He said : “They don’t have to direct the NCAA to do its job. NCAA has the statutory responsibility to audit airlines.
“The Accident Investigation Bureau has already told us what happened to that particular aircraft in Port Harcourt and NCAA has the duty to carry out safety audit on that particular aircraft and not on Dana as an airline.
“Dana as an airline has an Air Operators’ Certificate (AOC) to operate that type of aircraft and other aircraft, so it is not proper to ground their operations because of that incident.
“We should be able to do things the way they are done all over the world. So what the NCAA can do if there is a problem with that aircraft is to ground all its type on the fleet and not the entire airline operations. ”
Olowo maintained that the NCAA had personnel who were competent to determine air worthiness of an aircraft and that they should be allowed to do their job without any form of interference.
The Federal Government had, on March 7, ordered a comprehensive audit of Dana airline as part of measures to ensure air safety in the country.
Presidential spokesman Garba Shehu, told State House correspondents of the directive while briefing them alongside Ministers of Defence, Niger Delta Affairs as well as Industry, Trade and Investment, on the outcome of a meeting of the Federal Executive Council (FEC).
It would be recalled that on Feb. 7, the door of a Dana Air aircraft fell off while taxiing to the apron side of the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport (NAIA) Abuja.
On Feb. 20, an aircraft belonging to Dana Airline also overshot the runway at the Port Harcourt International Airport, Rivers State.
The plane, which took off from the NAIA Abuja skidded off and went into the bush near the runway.
NAN reports that no life was lost as a result of the two incidents as all the passengers and crew disembarked to safety.
