Nigerian Safety Investigation Bureau, NSIB, has allayed the fears of Nigerians over the rise in air incidents and accidents around the world, saying the country’s airspace was safe for domestic travel.
Director General of the NSIB, Captain Alex Badeh jr, who backed his argument with statistics, said in the last seven days, Air Peace, Ibom Air, Aero Contractors and Arik had flown no fewer than 63,083 passengers without recording any incident.
Recall that last Wednesday, there was a mid-air collision over the Potomac River, near Washington, that resulted in the death of 67 persons.
In December, Jeju Air’s Boeing 737-800 crashed at Muan International Airport in South Korea, killing 175 passengers.
In Nigeria, a Max Air aircraft with the registration 5N-MBD, suffered a nose-wheel damage at the Mallam Aminu International Airport, MAKIA, Kano State, last Tuesday.
Before then, specifically in January, United Airlines flight UA613, outbound Lagos to Washington, declared an emergency and returned to Lagos.
But while calming the fears of Nigerians over recent developments in the global aviation sector, Badeh, on the Morning Brief, a Channels TV programme, said barring the helicopter crash in Bonny last year, there had been no loss of life in Nigeria.
He said: “I can confidently say our airspace is safe. I can see how it could be disconcerting with the increase in incidents. And unfortunately, it just so happened that, you know, between December and now, there has just
been a rash of crashes. You know, when it rains, it pours, they say.
“But I am still confident that aviation and the Nigerian airspace, by and large, is fairly safe. As you have seen, with all the incidents we have had here, there has been no major loss of life, barring the helicopter crash in Bonny last year.
“You know, we aim for zero fatalities, or to get to our destination safely but occasionally, these things happen. You know, I am not going to sugarcoat it here and say there are no slight issues.
“There are issues here with the human factors and all that. But inherently, our aviation industry is safe, and aviation around the world, by and large, is safe. I would use statistics. You know, it is more statistics than anything.
‘’You look at the number of people flying all around the world, the number of airplanes in the air at any given time, and you correlate that with the number of crashes or incidents or fatalities. You would see compared to the roads, or maritime, or even rail, it is inherently safer.”
“How many people do the trains carry in Nigeria, vis-a-vis their accidents and incidents? Whereas with aviation, I mean, airplanes, each airplane, on average, seats about 80 people, and you have at least five between Abuja and Lagos, any given hour.
‘’In the past seven days, Air Peace flew 38,983 passengers. Next was Ibom Air, 10,200, Aero, 7,300, Arik, 6,600. You see it is a large number.”
