Ibrahim Attahiru (Lieutenant General), Nigeria’s chief of army staff death in an air crash on Friday makes him the country’s third military chief of staff to die on duty in the last 52 years.
On the night of August 6, 1967, the Federal Government of Nigeria announced that the 30-year-old Nigerian Army Chief of Staff, Colonel Joseph Akahan, had been killed in a helicopter crash in Makurdi, according to an article by The New York Times dated August 7, 1967.
Two years after, tragedy struck again when on 15 October 1969 Colonel Shittu Akanji Alao died in an air crash at Uzebba, about 89 kilometres in northwest Benin.
Alao, had been appointed the Chief of the Air Staff of Nigeria’s air force in August 1967 and was the second indigene to hold the office.
Read Also: UPDATE 2: Nigeria mourns as chief of army staff, others die in plane crash
Three NAF jet crashes in three months – a necessity for collaboration
Experts have called for greater collaborations among stakeholders in the aviation sector because Nigeria has recorded three air crashes involving Nigerian Air Force jets in the last three months.
On Friday, 21st March, 2021an an air crash involving a Nigerian Air Force aircraft occurred near the Kaduna International Airport, claiming the lives of Attahiru and eleven others.
On Sunday, February 21, 2021, seven NAF officers died on board a Beechcraft King Air B350i aircraft when the jet crashed in Abuja.
The jet en route Minna in Niger State crashed close to the runway of the Abuja airport after reporting engine failure.
Also, on Wednesday, March 31, 2021, NAF spokesman, Air Commodore Edward Gabkwet, said an Alpha-Jet aircraft involved in the anti-terror war against Boko Haram and Islamic State West Africa Province lost radar contact in Borno State.
While stakeholders raise concerns that two of these crashes occurred close to the runways of airports – Abuja and Kaduna, they say it tells of the landing techniques of NAF officers, adding that NAF needs serious help and the earlier the better.
The Accident Investigation Bureau Nigeria (AIB-N) had earlier called for more effective and stronger collaborations among stakeholders in the aviation industry as means of enhancing the safety of air travels in Nigeria.
Tunji Oketunbi, the manager, Public Affairs at AIB-N, said the need for effective and strong collaborations among stakeholders within the aviation industry to ensure safety cannot be overemphasised.
“Safety is the backbone of aviation and without it, aviation loses its meaning. This is why every organ or unit in the industry works tirelessly to ensure the safety of air travellers,” he said.
While remarking on collaborations the Bureau has been able to garner with some major stakeholders such as the Nigerian Air Force and Federal Road Safety Corps, Oketunbi stressed why all stakeholders within the industry need to work as one as AIB alone cannot do the job.
He added that the Bureau will not relent in its vigorous pursuit of adding value that will up the ante of safety in Nigeria and Africa
