According to Keyamo, most of the corrupt regulators don’t patronise the airlines they allow their shaky aircraft to fly and also go a step further to warn their relatives not to fly them.
Aviation minister Festus Keyamo says corruption and unethical practices are rife among Nigeria’s aviation regulators.
Keyamo said Nigeria may return to the ugly era of planes dropping from the sky like a pack of cards due to the endemic corruption among compromised regulators who allow shaky and unfit aircraft to fly
He disclosed that regulators falsified airlines’ safety reports and engaged in other nefarious activities that negate their core and primary responsibilities of prioritising and ensuring safety and global best practices in the aviation sector.
Drawing the public attention to the troubling foreboding situation during an interview with Channels TV, the former minister of Labour said public servant in the aviation sector acquired unexplained wealth by endangering Nigerians lives.
He said “Unfortunately, I’ll have to say this that there is deep complicity in the aviation sector, You’ll see regulators, who are supposed to be public servants, buying big houses and driving big cars. Because they are endangering the lives of Nigerians by cutting corners and falsifying reports.”
“The truth of the matter is that there is falsification of reports in the system. Falsification of checks they do, falsification of training they do. It is a system of corruption we are fighting, and we are going to bring down that system. This sector is one of the most corrupt I’ve seen because people bypass regulations.”
According to Keyamo, most of the corrupt regulators don’t patronise the airlines they allow their shaky aircraft to fly and also go a step further to warn their relatives not to fly them.
He added, “Most of them (corrupt regulators) don’t fly those airlines. After compromising, they will tell their relatives don’t fly that airline because they know the health status of those airlines. But innocent Nigerians will fly those airlines.”
Keyamo’s statement came after a Dana aircraft veered off the runway at the local wing of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Ikeja, on April 23.
The minister had directed the NCAA to suspend Dana Airlines’ Air Operators Certificate on April 24. However, the Aviation Safety Roundtable Initiative (ART) opposed the suspension of Dana Airlines operations and cautioned the ministry against interfering with the autonomy of the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA).
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