The Commissioner of Accident Investigation Bureau (AIB), Dr Sam Oduselu has attributed the inability of some of the nation’s aviation companies to operate profitability to the global aviation trend where everything is computed in dollars.
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Oduselu was speaking following the weak naira value to the dollar.
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Speaking at an event organised by the National Association of Air Traffic Engineers (NAAE), the AIB boss said, “Because of global trend of insecurity, security is now part of the key aspects of aviation. It is an international arena that you can’t quantify what you are doing in Naira, but rather in Dollars. This makes it a bit hard for our operators to operate profitably.”
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He also highlighted the importance of industry operators to ensure they employ professionals as well as maintain safety standards as stipulated by the ICAO.
“It is what you put into the industry that you will get and ours at AIB is to make sure that professionals and stakeholders in the industry get conducive environment to do their job and by so doing, we will promote safety in the sector.”
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Oduselu pointed out that since aviation was internationally regulated, professionals in the industry were expected to measure up to international standards, adding that aviation globally was a segment, which was expected to work together as one.
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He decried the high insecurity in the industry in the last few years, which he said had further put it into disrepute, stressing that for insecurity to be addressed, it required holistic approach from all stakeholders.
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Rector of the Nigerian College of Aviation Technology (NCAT), Captain Chinyere Kalu, said federal government was trying to restructure the industry with its new roadmap and urged all agencies and professional associations to key into the government’s vision.
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She explained that the only way the country’s aviation sector could remain safe was for players in the industry to continue to embrace ICAO safety standards, stressing that through this means, stakeholders would be able to address all the challenges hindering performance in the sector.
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She encouraged NAAE members to continue to maintain safety standards in their operations by sending their personnel for training and re-training at NCAT, warning that if the college collapsed, aviation industry in the country would be in a crisis.
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Also, the Managing Director of the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency, Mr Nnamdi Udoh, canvassed for maintenance of international standards for all operators in the sector and urged them to discard bickering among themselves in a bid for the sector to move forward.
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