NASI Writes ICAO on Slok Air
By Ndubuisi Francis
The Nigerian Aviation Safety Initiative (NASI) has taken the revocation of the operating licence of Slok Air by the Federal Government to the headquarters of the International Civil Aviation Organisation(ICAO) in Montreal, Canada, saying the incident "has heigthened our concern over the state of aviation satety management in the country".
The operating licence of Slok Air owned by Abia State Governor, Chief Orji Uzor Kalu was March this year revoked by theNigerian Civil Aviation Authority(NCAA) and the Federal Ministry of Aviation. which cited "unethical practices" for the action.
NASI which has already challenged the revocation of the licence in court,
in a letter dated June 21, 2004 and endorsed by its Founder/Executive Director, Capt. Jerry Agbeyegbe and addressed to the ICAO Director, Air Navigation said it was bringing to the attention of the world civil aviation umpire, recent developments in the Nigerian aviation industry which, it claimed, have heightened its concern over the state of aviation safety management in the country.
"NASI is extremely concerned that these developments listed here-under not only depict the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) as being unable to manage safety in a professional and unbiased manner, without fear, favour or political interference, but clearly shows the regulatory authority as being unable to meet her safety oversight obligations as enshrined in the 1994 Chicago Convention", it affirmed.
The letter was copied to the Chairman, Senate Committee on Aviation and his House of Representatives counterpart; Minister of Aviation; Director General of NCAA; Administrator of the United States Federal Aviation Administration(FAA); Chairman, British Civil Aviation Authority and President of the International Federation of Air Line Pilots Association.
It noted that on Friday, March 12. 2004, the Federal Ministry of Aviation issued a statement on the grounding of two airlines; lRS and Slok, adding that the statement announced that the operating licenses of both airlines had been revoked.
"To justify the revocation order, IRS was alleged to be indebted to the aviation authorities whilst one of its aircraft, during take-off, had made an unscheduled contact with the antenna of the Instrument Landing System (ILS) at the Kaduna Airport: thus damaging the antenna and raising questions on the safety of the IRS aircraft. On its part. Slok airline was accused of "Unethical Practices" without any additional details.
"Needless to say we were shocked and awed at these developments and immediately responded by calling to question the actions of the aviation authorities which obviously did not follow due process, but more importantly was our conviction that the action was politically motivated.
"The Nigerian Aviation Safety Initiative remains extremely concerned that whilst the revocation order on IRS Airlines alleged to be financially indebted has been upturned without so much as a proper investigation into the life-threatening incident involving the airline's aircraft, converse]y, Slok airlines initially alleged to have been involved in "Unethical Practices" has remained grounded with the authorities seeking to justify their actions by manufacturing untenable violations as an after-thought against the airline", the letter read.
NASI affirmed that it remained equally concerned that while the Director General of NCAA, Engineer Fidelis Onyeyiri insists that the actions taken by the authority was a suspension order, the Aviation Minister, Mallam Isa Yuguda decided to "wield a bigger stick as he felt that the NCAA's sanction was not severe enough".
This conflicting situation, NASI observed, once again raised the issue of both the NCAA boss and the minister holding concurrent powers as has been equally observed by ICAO during her Safety Oversight Audit.
"This clearly signposts the need for the NCAA to be granted full autonomy before more half is done as both the DG of the NCAA and the HMA (Honourable Minister of Aviation) cannot be exercising concurrent powers.
"It is obvious that there is a dire need not on]y for the NCAA to be professionally w administered, but for it to be insulated from any political interference. We note with utmost regret that the Nigerian government has failed to make any concerted effort in this direction, thus leaving safety management in a precarious situation", the letter said.
NASI said in collaboration with the Socio-Economic Rights Initiative (SRI) another, non governmental organisation(NGO) dedicated to the rule of law and fundamental rights has already gone to court to seek for a reversal of the grounding order "since it is clear breach of the provisions of the Civil Aviation (Air Transport Licensing) Part Regulation 10, which deals with the suspension and revocation of licenses".
It noted that notwithstanding the fact that ICAO lacks any enforcement powers over an erring civi aviation authority, "we seek your support to advise the Nigerian Governmet appropriately on the consequences of these actions on its
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