AIR SAFETY: DEMUREN ASSURES PASSENGERS OF ZERO ACCIDENT RATES

By Daniel Eteghe
Director-General of the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), Dr. Harold Demuren has assured air travellers of zero accident in the aviation industry in 2012.

Speaking to aviation correspondents during an interactive session at the NCAA's headquarters in Lagos, Dr. Demuren stressed that the sector has witnessed a period of zero accident, zero fatality in the last five years adding that the agency will not rest on its oars

It will be recalled that the last major commercial air accident that rocked the country and the aviation industry which claimed about one hundred and eighteen lives was the fatal crash of ADC airline on October 29, 2006 which took off from the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja to Lagos.

The Flight 53, Boeing 737 series crashed immediately after the aircraft took off in Abuja at noon.

'We have marked five years with no major schedule operation accident. We must keep it that way, our goal remains zero accident, zero fatality, let's work towards that,' Demuren said.

He further noted that the safety level in the industry has greatly improved due to the enforcement of safety regulations by the agency, adding that NCAA would continue to enforce compliance to its regulations not minding whose ox is gored.

He said: 'The thing is that we want to ensure strict compliance to safety regulations and I think that is our number one major target. We will make sure that enforcement, compliance to enforcement will continue to be our watch word.'

On the issuance of Airline Operators Certificate (AOC) to airline operators, Dr. Demuren said that NCAA have put in place a strict requirement procedure before giving out the AOC noting that an airline could not carry passengers in public transport category unless they do the right thing first.

'We will not allow this and we mean business about this, they must comply with those requirements. We have achieved a lot over these five years both in aviation safety and security,' Demuren stressed.