Lagos Governor pledges to lend a hand in the execution of outcome from 25th LAAC Conference

LEFT: Engr Akin Olateru, Commissioner/CEO, Accident Investigation Bureau, AIB, Dr Femi Oke-Osanyintolu, GM, Lagos State Emergency Management Agency, LASEMA, Mr Babajide Olusola Sanwo-Olu, Lagos State Governor

Captains in the various arms of the aviation value chain have been tasked to re-engineer and reposition the industry in a way that would easily attract the attention of local and international investors as a means of quickly taking the industry out of recession and place it on the path of recovery and growth.

Governor Babajide Olusola Sanwoolu, BOS, charged the industry players in his goodwill message to the 25th International Annual Conference of the League of Airport and Aviation Correspondents in Nigeria, LAAC-N, held at Sheraton Hotels and Tower, Ikeja, Lagos.

In the message which was delivered by the Lagos State Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Mr Gbenga Omotosho, the governor acknowledged the debilitating effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on the air transport industry globally hence, he urged the operators to be at their wit’s end and refuse to be left behind of the strategies from the advanced economies of the world in order to quickly get out of recession.

The peoples’ Governor of the state of aquatic splendour urged for caution on the dangerous trend among federal government agencies servicing the aviation sector. He advised the aviation parastatals to resist the urge of being driven by profit instead of impeccable service delivery, safety, security, and comfort of the consumers whose expectations are, schedule integrity through prompt take off and on the dot arrival.

Sanwo-Olu expressed gratitude for the support from the industry players and air passengers during the various stringent measures by the state government to check the spread of the heinous COVI-19 through various restrictions on travelling to control entry to the country through the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, MMIA, Ikeja, Lagos, the foremost international airport in the west coast of Africa.

Babajide Sanwo-Olu, through the Chief Spokesperson for his government, Gbenga Omotosho, explained further the rationale for those restrictions the Lagos government enforced at the heat of the virus scourge for the better part of 2020. He said the fact that over 80% of international arrivals into the country come in through the MMIA, informed the government’s determination not to lower her guide as a means of preventing the spread of the Virus which was imported to the country through the Lagos airport.

The Governor, however, announced that the state government would be more than willing to support the execution of any of the critical decisions the conference would reach. Especially the aspects that would positively impact safety, commerce, industry and the socio-economic well-being of Lagosians.

AIR OPERATOR PERSPECTIVE
Speaking immediately after was the Chairman, Air Peace, Barrister Allen Onyema, who lamented how the COVID-19 pandemic succeeded in bringing the entire global aviation industry on its knees.

He said the harrowing effect of the pandemic warranted a rethink in some of the policies of government so as to offer breathing space to operators and other stakeholders in such a way that it would inspire a quick recovery and growth of the nation’s aviation industry.

Onyema appealed to the media to be more objective in their reportage as their reports, if thoughtless, could negatively impact air travel and the entire gamut of businesses in the air transportation value chain.

However, the owner and founder of Air Peace Airline accused the state government of silent apartheid policy in the acquisition of landed property at any place of choice by other citizens.

He claimed to have experienced such denials when he desired to acquired landed property in areas along Lekki, on the axis pencilled for an express road to link the ring road to the fourth mainland bridge.

Barrister Onyema, a businessman, and an advocate for peaceful coexistence in a multi-ethnic country like Nigeria, appealed to the state government for a rethink and promote egalitarian society by allowing every citizen to legitimate acquisition of land at any place of their choice.

Earlier, the Chairman, Senate Committee on Aviation, Smart Adeyemi, had assured stakeholders that the entire six different acts before the senate for review had been given studious consideration with the view to inspire a robust aviation industry for the national economy where safety and security would be held in high esteem.

AVIATION REGULATOR
The Chief Regulator for everything bordering on air transport in Nigeria, Capt Musa Nuhu, Director General, Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority, NCAA, assured industry players that as soon as the new civil aviation act being considered in the National Assembly is passed and finally signed into law, domestication of aspect of the regulations would commence.

He assured participants that the domestication process would be made very transparent as stakeholders forum would be held to allow everyone prospecting in any phase of the aviation value chain, to have a say in the civil aviation regulation that would be the outcome from the stakeholders’ parley.

AWARDS
The climax of the conference was the award to distinguished Airport Manager, which the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria, FAAN, clinched. The award for Airport Most Compliant to COVID-19 Protocol went to Bi-Courtney Aviation Services Limited, BASL, managers of the second terminal of Murtala Muhammed Airport, MMA2. Award for the Most Charitable Airline, went to Air Peace, while Ethiopian Airlines bagged the award for Distinguished Performance, especially at the heat of the COVID-19 pandemic last year.

Engineer Akin Olateru, Commissioner/Chief Executive, Accident Investigation Bureau, AIB, clinched the award for Leadership and Distinguished Performance in his mandate and the way and manner the impact of the bureau’s services reverberate not on the domestic terrain alone, but globally.

It can be recalled the findings by the bureau on the investigation of the crashed Bristow helicopter which revealed an error from the factory, of a component, Push Rod, of the helicopter which was a contributive factor to the crash. The bulletin issued as a corollary to the investigators’ findings, compelled the Federal Aviation Administration, FAA, of the United States to give the issue a second look.

The result was the recall globally of that helicopter type and the manufacturer was compelled to make adjustments on that erroneous factory produced part and the global aviation family profited from those findings and the adjustment that followed suit.

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