Between October 22, 2005 and October 29, 2006, the Nigerian aviation industry recorded three major crashes. Bellview Airlines’ flight 210 had departed the Murtala Muhammed Airport (MMA), Lagos to the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport (NAIA), Abuja on 22 October 2005, but few minutes into the flight, the Boeing 737-200 aircraft crashed at Lisa Village, Ogun State, killing all 117 people on board.
Less than seven weeks later, December 10, 2005 to be precise, another McDonnell Douglas DC-9-32 aircraft with 110 people on board, slammed into the ground and burst into flames at the Port Harcourt International Airport (PHIA), Port Harcourt. Out of the 110 persons onboard, only two survived the crash.
Barely a year after the Bellview crash, Aviation Development Company Airlines’ (ADC) Boeing 737 aircraft, crashed on October 29, 2006 shortly after take-off at Abuja Airport with 105 passengers and crewmembers onboard. Only four, out of the 105 persons onboard, including the three daughters of Ibrahim Idris, Governor of Kogi State survived the crash.
The crash was the last straw that broke the camel’s back. Aviation stakeholders and professionals were united in their demand for full autonomy, devoid of political interference for the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), which it later attained in November 2006.
Since then, past arms of government – Executive (including the Ministry of Aviation), Judiciary and the Legislature have respected the autonomy of the regulatory body to a large extent, until the current Aviation Committees of the Senate and the House in the ninth National Assembly was birthed.
In the first week of October, the House of Representatives Committee on Aviation had directed the NCAA to halt the issuing of Air Operators’ Certificate (AOC) to NG Eagle being midwife by the Assets Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON).
The committee said it gave the directive following a petition jointly addressed to its Chairman, Hon. Nnolim Nnaji by the Association of Nigerian Aviation Professionals (ANAP) and the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) branch of the National Union of Pensioners, (NUP).
AMCON, according to the petitioners, had acquired Arik Air properties and decided to change name to NG Eagle Airline to evade payment of the monumental debts owed to all the aviation agencies by Arik Air.
Barely two weeks later, the Senate Committee on Aviation in a letter signed by its Chairman, Sen. Smart Adeyemi, also directed the NCAA to suspend the ongoing issuance of AOC to the airline.
Source: independent.com