Ajadi Advocates Nigeria Aviation Sector Needs Proper Monitoring
Ambassador Olufemi Ajadi,the New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP) gubernatorial candidate in Ogun state in the March 18 polls on Monday called on the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) to properly monitor airline operators in the country.
Ambassador Ajadi in a statement said there was the urgent need for the relevant government agencies, the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority to rise up to the task by monitoring and sanctioning erring operators especially those running local businesses,
He therefore charged the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) and other relevant government agencies to be more up and doing in the area of policy formation, implementation and execution such as mandating airlines operation with standard and better aircrafts.
According to him, “If government wakes up to its responsibility and sanctions most of these erring airline operators, they will think twice and wake up to their responsibility. But our government did not take us seriously. I have called their attention twice to our plight in the aviation sector but nothing good comes from them. This is the third time I’m calling their attention to the suffering of Nigerians in the aviation sector.”
The NNPP governorship candidate added, “The airline, in which I have been boarding in recent times, was turning all the boarding passengers into prayer-warriors as the aeroplanes were jerking in a worrisome manner. Apart from the usage of old and obsolete aircraft by most of the airline companies, the environment of the departure and arrival are not too conducive at all”.
He explained that this became imperative considering the various challenges encountered by the passengers during flights as a result of poor maintenance capacity of aircrafts operating at Nigeria airports.
Consequently, Ambassador Ajadi advocated stringent sanction against any airline that failed to airlift passengers on scheduled time, as well as other violations of local content policy of the country, where some airlines are still selling tickets in dollars instead of Nigerian currency the Naira.
He hinted that his recent experiences in boarding aircraft within the country was not palatable and nothing to write about as most of the airlines were operating with old and obsolete aeroplanes that were unfit.
Ajadi harped on the need for the monitoring and sanction if necessary by the relevant federal government agencies like NCAA in the airline industry, especially those running local businesses.
He asserted that the nonchalant attitude of government to some areas of human endeavours and economic growth and development as being the major factor responsible for negligence of most of the airline companies.
