Urges FG to invest in aviation sector
Chairman of United Nigeria Airline, Prof. Obiora Okonkwo, has appealed to the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) to be more vigilant with the activities of oil marketers delivering Jet A1 (aviation fuel) to airlines in the country.
Okonkwo stated this in Lagos, at the weekend, during the yearly All Markets Conference of the Ndigboamaka Progressive Market Association, following the Max Air incident due to contaminated fuel found in the tank of its Boeing 737-300 aircraft in Yola Airport on July 7, 2023. He stated that enhanced vigilance by NCAA would have prevented the incident that led to the grounding of Max’s B737 series.
According to Okonkwo, the apex regulatory body took the right step by investigating the source of the contaminated fuel. The airline operator insisted that all industry procedures and steps must be strictly adhered to by all operators.
Besides, he canvassed pseudo-audit of fuel marketers to ensure total compliance with industry standards. Lauding the management of NCAA led by Capt. Musa Nuhu, he stated that the apex regulatory body lived up to expectation.
He said: “The plan to investigate the fuel marketers is a confirmation of all I have been saying all along; that we have an active and vibrant NCAA, which guarantees the safety of air passengers.
“It can only take a vigilant regulator to observe when there is a problem, and if they have gone as far as identifying the supplier of bad fuel, we are happy.
“As for Max Air, there is nothing to worry about. It can happen to any airline at any time. If there are questions from the NCAA, it is left for them to answer the agency, which I am sure they will do. The NCAA we have now, led by Capt. Nuhu, is one of the best in the world.”
On the statement attributed to Nuhu that airlines and pilots were responsible for the quality of fuel in their aircraft tanks, Okonkwo said this was in the interest of the airlines and the flying public.
He said this would make the operators more responsible and enforce adherence to Standard Operation Procedures (SOP). Doling out N500 billion palliatives to the less privileged as planned by the Federal Government, according to him, may not be the solution to the country’s problems.
For the United Nigeria Airlines boss, the government should rather look at how it could use the savings from fuel subsidy to strengthen business owners in the private sector to stimulate the economy and create wealth.
He urged the Federal Government to assist domestic airlines by providing N250 billion soft loans and good policies for businesses to thrive, instead of giving handouts to people.
