Keyamo summons heads of aviation agencies over safety concerns

Festus Keyamo, Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, said he has summoned the heads of regulatory agencies under his ministry to his office later today to address recent safety concerns in the sector.

The minister, who announced this through his Twitter handle (now X), said the meeting will focus on assessing recent incidents in the sector, which have raised serious concerns.

Recall that an aero contractor aeroplane had a landing mishap earlier in the month at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport. Its nose wheel stuck in the grass verge with the fuselage on the runway as it tried to exit.

Consequently, the runway was closed for a few hours to allow the towing of the aircraft – though no injury or fatality was reported.

A Lagos-Abuja flight of United Nigeria Airlines was recently diverted to Asaba, Delta State capital, due to poor weather conditions.

Also late last month, a Lagos-Owerri bound Air Peace flight made an air return over engine failure after departing the Murtala Mohammed International Airport, Lagos.

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The aircraft landed safely without infringement, and passengers disembarked safely. According to the airline’s authorities, another aircraft was deployed immediately to operate the flight.

But in the last 14 days, Nigeria has witnessed three runway excursions in two international airports and fewer than ten reported incidents this year alone.

Keyamo said these serial incidents were concerning and now call for serious steps to address the issues and forestall future occurrences.

“Due to safety concerns in the aviation sector expressed by members of the public, I have summoned the heads of the regulatory agencies to my office later today to review the incidents that are the causes of these concerns and to ensure that appropriate steps are taken to forestall future occurrence and to apply sanctions, where necessary, regarding the past incidents,” Keyamo tweeted.