Akwa Ibom State Governor Chief Godswill Akpabio with the Deputy Governor Engr. Patrick Ekpotu and State House of Assembly Speaker Rt. Hon. Ignatius Edet
If Only DANA Listened to Gov. Godswill Akpabio
By Onofiok Luke
Our nation is yet again thrown into a state of mourning. The news of yesterday’s Dana Airplane crash came as well-meaning Nigerians tried to adjust to the excruciating fact that for the umpteenth time this year, suicide bombers had a field day in Yelwa, Bauchi state, when they audaciously defied our security system to take the lives of innocent worshipers for a reason they will better give to God.
Reports have it that over 150 people died in the Lagos plane crash, which in every respect was avoidable were the management of DANA Airline not careless with certain technical hitches that have severally caused their customers to complain. I wish to express my deep regret for this incidence which has now exposed DANA’s insensitivity to the plights of their teeming clientele in Nigeria, especially with the airline being a major local carrier.
On Thursday last week, I had cause to be in an informal meeting with the Executive Governor of Akwa Ibom State, Chief Godwill Akpabio. At the little parley were the Speaker to the Akwa Ibom State House of Assembly, Elder Sam Ikon, Secretary to the State Government, Mr. Umana Umana, and some members of the state Executive Council. In the course of our interaction, Governor Akpabio mentioned that he had been inundated with complains from indigenes of the state concerning the poor state of DANA planes that are used to ply the Uyo-Abuja and Uyo-Lagos routes. In a manner that is typical of the Governor, he immediately asked to be given the phone number of the Managing Director of DANA Airlines through Captain Olubunmi Williams, who forwarded the DANA MD’s contact to the Governor.
The Governor then placed a call on the MD of DANA Airlines, Mr Jacky Hathiramani through the phone of the Honourable Commissioner of Works, Mr Don Etim.
Governor Akpabio in the conversation with the MD insisted that he needed to have a true picture of the conditions of the planes that were conveying passengers to and fro the state by DANA. The Dana boss in the chat assured the Governor that his company’s aircrafts were in first-hand order. While agreeing that DANA was at the moment facing some pressure, the MD guaranteed that their air worthiness was never to be subject to query, as DANA had been issued a clean bill of health by the NCAA.
Having consulted key stakeholders on the issue, the Governor advised Mr Hathiramani to be sure that no stone was left unturned in ensuring that whatever issues were there to be fixed concerning his planes were so done without delays.
The governor alluded to the events which preceded the ultimate grounding of ADC airlines in 2006. I vividly remember that Chief Akpabio informed the DANA MD in the telephone conversation that before the sad incidence of October 29, 2006 which involved an ADC plane crash that took the lives of over 100 passengers, ADC was first being criticized widely by their customers for their acts of negligence. He noted that ADC’s ostensible lax in handling those minor faults as put forward by their customers was later to escalate into the loss of innocent lives. He expressed worry that the number of complains that were pouring in from DANA customers were just enough to elucidate that all was not well with DANA, and that such vote of no confidence deserved to be taken a lot seriously.
Not satisfied with the explanation and assurances tabled by the DANA MD, the Governor then placed another call on the Director General of the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), Dr Harold Demuren to whom he relayed the complaints of Akwa Ibom passengers and got further pledges from the DG that the concerns raised would be looked into.
I am compelled to share this with fellow Nigerians so they can judge for themselves the cleanliness of the bill of health that DANA claimed the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority awarded them. I reason that it is either DANA misinformed Governor Akpabio by saying that the NCAA, having deemed their planes air fit, awarded them a clean bill of health, or the NCAA is going about issuing death warrants to local carriers like DANA.
For a number of times in the past weeks, I have personally had cause to question the competence of DANA Airline in running commercial flights in the country. More worrisome was the fact that in spite of the increasing complaints by passengers, it often appears that DANA takes no steps to correct technical anomalies which raise doubts about their airplanes. It is worthy of note that Sunday’s mishap did not come as a surprise to many who have been flying DANA recently. Only two weeks ago, passengers on-board a DANA plane narrated how what would have been a major crash of one of DANA’s Lagos-bound plane was divinely averted. According to some of the passengers who were on-board, the plane is said to have been unable to touch down after its landing gear failed to produce the aircraft’s landing wheels. Several efforts were made, including taking a tour to Cotonou and then returning to manage a fair landing. This incident was enough to put the technical crew of DANA on their toes and forestall the sad event of Sunday.
As I mentioned earlier, I have been a frequent flyer of DANA Airlines from Uyo to Abuja/Lagos and vice versa. On several occasions, I have had cause to decry the ineptness of the practise whereby a plane that has only just landed for passengers to disembark, is the very one immediately set up for boarding by a new set of travellers. Whether the barely thirty minutes that DANA takes to check a flight that has just taxied in from Abuja to Uyo, for example, is enough time to find and correct possible technical faults that may have arose on such an aircraft is a question that Nigerians would have to ask DANA.
It, therefore, smacks of sheer negligence for DANA to be the carrier that is adding to our sorrows at this point in time, in spite of their acclaimed daunting safety records. If they had taken the complains of their customers more seriously, especially as championed by a state Governor in the person of Chief Godswill Akpabio, it is certain that Sunday’s unfortunate incidence would have been forestalled.
It is painful that DANA’s negligence has cost the nation the lives of over 150 Nigerians, some of whom were breadwinners, statesmen, corporate and business leaders, as well as children, our future leaders. I must point out that being the most patronized airliner for the people of Akwa Ibom State, the ill-fated DANA aircraft could have been carrying mainly Akwa Ibomites from the Uyo International Airport to Abuja or Lagos. In such circumstance, the entire 153 passengers could have been all Akwa Ibom families.
What has happened is an eye-opener to Nigerian passengers and the entire aviation industry stakeholders. It is not enough to have confidence in an airliner only on the grounds that it carries “a-clean-bill-of-health” paper. It is time we looked beyond the clean bills of health offered by NCAA. While one is not undermining the efforts of Mr Demuren and his team at ensuring safety in the industry, we all must not rely solely on the paper status of our local carriers. Nigerians must be in strict vigilance of the modus operandi of our local carriers and report to appropriate authorities any indecent activity within our aviation industry.
The most that a listening leader like Governor Akpabio can do within his capacity is exactly what the governor did – leaning his voice with that of his people to ask DANA to check their professional competence. The onus therefore primarily lies on NCAA to take full responsibility of the professional output of airline operators in the country. They must bear fangs where necessary and stand their ground to ensure absolute compliance with industry stipulated safety rules.
We must, as a nation, hold close to our chest the hard worn Category 1 status recognition we currently enjoy from the United States’ Federal Aviation Administration, especially now that we need to solidify our business relationship with advanced nations so as to encourage foreign investments.
This sad incidence further throws one more challenge at the Aviation Minister, Ms Stella Oduah. Her ministry must do more at this point in time in order to reassure Nigerians that indeed, the aviation industry has gone past the days it was bedevilled with overwhelming incompetence. She must rise to the challenge before her, and stamp her feet against sharp practices by airliners who do not meet international aviation standards. Licenses should be withdrawn from airlines that are not airworthy, and aberrant airline companies should be prosecuted to serve as deterrent to other operators within the industry.
My heart sincerely goes out to the families of the crash victims and to the entire nation. I also commend President Jonathan for declaring a 3-day national mourning for the souls of the departed. I urge Nigerians to utilize the three days to pray for the souls of the victims as well as an end to such national horror; reflect on our national ideals; and the need for enduring unity.
Hon. Barr. Onofiok Luke is a Member Representing Nsit Ubium State Constituency in the Akwa Ibom State House of Assembly.
Barr. Onofiok Luke — Hon. Member, Akwa Ibom State House of Assembly
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