Why We Suspended Dan Air..Aviation Minister

THE Minster of Aviation, Ms. Stella Oduah, on Monday said that the suspension of the operations of Dana Air was to ensure that the airline’s activities were in tandem with the requirements of the law.

Fielding questions from State House correspondents in Abuja, she clarified that the airline’s operations were suspended to enable the aviation authorities to carry out an assessment for possibly re-certification.

Responding to questions on the suspension, she said: “The law, the policy, says that the assessment, the certification is ongoing. In aviation, security and safety measures are work in progress, you don’t stop. You don’t say that I have attained this and so we stop. It never stops. You continuously, constantly assess operators to make sure they are in compliance.”
Asked what regulation Dana may have fallen foul of having been recently authorised to restart its operations after the crash of its aircraft in June last year, Oduah declined any revelation, saying, “I am not at liberty to say so. But that is the reason why their operations were suspended. We cannot joke with safety and security. It is not even optional. It is the way things are done, it is part of the policy.”

She denied that proper work was not done during the previous assessment of Dana Air before it was re-certified leading to the latest suspension.

“It was concluded and like I said, the process of certifying, re-certifying security and safety is continuous. It doesn’t stop. You can get your certification today and in a month’s time or even a week down the line, something may happen because, constantly the papers, the documents, the log books are constantly being checked,”  she said.

She also denied that aviation authorities act only in fire brigade manner after incident had occurred rather than being proactive, adding, “No! Nothing in aviation is ever fire brigade because there are processes and procedure, nothing at all.

“And their (DANA) license was not stopped what was stopped is their operations and it was stopped; because the law says that, if there is anything noticed not in tandem with the policy, the regulation must stop and re-certify and make sure that there are compliance.”

On Associated Airline plane which crashed recently in Lagos, the Minister assured that it was safe to fly in the country in spite of the relatively frequent air crashes, noting that “we have the safest air space. Nigerians shouldn’t be afraid to fly, Nigerian airspace is very safe.”

She revealed that the preliminary report on its investigation should be released in a couple of weeks while representatives of the manufacturers of the ill-fated aircraft were being expected in the country before its engine could be opened for further investigations.
She added: “The preliminary report should be out in a couple of weeks. The experts that are coming from France and the manufacturer of the aircraft, we must have them regardless of how we want to accelerate it.

“We are waiting for them to come so that we can open the engine and find out exactly from them. And you cannot do any of those without their presence. If you do that then, you have contaminated the investigation. So, we must wait for them.”

Oduah rejected claims that the recent crash had made nonsense of the effort of government to ensure aviation safety in the country, noting that accidents were acts of God that were inevitable.

According to her, “we do not pray for accidents but it is inevitable. But all we do is to do everything to ensure that we do not have accidents. But it is an act of God. Again, we do not speculate on the cause of accidents. Until that happens, you can’t say this is the cause or that is not the cause.

“But what is obvious and is the truth is that, in aviation there are shared responsibilities, starting from the man that carries your luggage to the man that makes sure that your boarding pass is issued to you and so is the regulatory agency, the operators, the management.

“Everybody has his responsibility and all must work in tandem for there to be an optimal, secured and safe aviation sector. And that is what we have been working.”