Recently,
there have been quite a number of worrisome incidents in the aviation sector.
The
helicopter crashes in Lagos and Kaduna States with attendant fatalities are
deeply troubling. Air returns have also been reported by a number of airlines
within this period.
Airplane
accidents, though minor at the parking hanger involving a number of aircrafts
at the Murtala Mohammed International and domestic airports have brought to the
fore the laxities in the sector.
Reports
of adulteration of aviation fuel have also surfaced, stories of kerosene been
substituted for aviation fuel, have made the rounds, all of these are sending jitters
down the spine of the travelling public.
The
regulatory bodies in the aviation sector, VCAA, AIB, FAAN have tried to allay
the fears or the public by stating that investigations are been launched into
these various incidences in the sector.
Official
statements have been issued, reinstating that the authorities are on top of the
situation. What is troubling is that these statements seem to be the standard
issue mouthed by beaureauerats in the industry. There is no proof that the
experts are frantically working behind the scenes to unravel these knothy
issues bedeviling the sector.
One
wonders, what if is going to take for the present administration to beam it’s
searchlight on these developments in the aviation sector. The country is
littered with abandoned airport remodeling projects, constituting an eyesore in
all nooks and crannies.
Aging
aircrafts operating freely in our airspace, should be a source of concern to
the flying public, several intervention efforts by previous administrations
does not seem to have yielded the necessary results.
There
is a pressing need for the government to a thorough bred professional to head
the aviation ministry, and bring sanity to the sector.
We
cannot afford to fold our hands and wait till we experience an avoidable plane
tragedy, the tell tale signs filtering out of the sector are troubling.
The
time to act is NOW!!!
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