Experts seek improvement in air transport sector

The government, professionals and other stakeholders in the air transport industry have been called to put their resources together to improve the sector in Nigeria.

Adebukola Daramola of the Economic Policy Research Department (EPRD) of Nigeria Institute of Social and Economic Research (NISER), Yingigba Akinyemi of the Department of Geography, University of Ibadan, and Adesoji Adesanya, a professor, made the call at the monthly April lecture series of the institute in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital.

In her presentation, titled “Priority Areas for Air Transport Infrastructure Development in Nigeria,” Daramola called for improvement of the sector through improved security measures such as surveillance in all airports and perimeter fencing to avoid gracing on the runways, which may lead to accidents.

There have been many efforts of the present administration in transforming the sector, such as re-modelling of airports in the country, she said, but called for more efforts in improving the lost glory of the stakeholders through safety of both passengers and crew.

All stakeholders in the sector should find ways of reducing accidents in the sector, Daramola further said, declaring that air transport had over the years been identified as the safest mode of transport in long distance.

In order to reduce accidents in the sector, she said all efforts must be put in place to reduce errors ranging from crew members, maintenance and other concerned individuals, noting that one of the major challenges in the sector was the lack of enough prerequisite knowledge by the personnel due to low capital among the operators in the sector.

She identified some of the panacea for success of the sector to include improvement in the maintenance of the aircrafts, improved capital base, perimeter fencing of airports, abolition of gracing in all runways, mounting of CCTV in all airports and putting necessary measures to improve the safety of both the passengers and the crew.

According to her, “in order to operationalise this new focus, safety oversight functions suggested to be considered a priority, safety and security services and Aviation Navigation Services (ANS) should also come up next on government priority list. Safety oversight process helps to checkmate the process of accident causation and also enhances ATI capabilities to deliver direct user benefits.”

On his part, Akinyemi called for putting preventive measures in place in reducing the accidents in the sector rather than curative measures, saying the government, operators and stakeholders must work to challenge both human and capital to improve on the sector.

Another contributor, Adesanya, a professor, also called for improvements such as maintenance of the terminals, among others.

Olufemi Taiwo, director-general of NISER, earlier while declaring the seminal open, said there had been improvements in the air transport since 80s, but there was a need to improve more to restore the lost confidence in the sector.

 

Remi Feyisipo