The Special Assistant on Media to the Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Tunde Moshood, has said that the Federal Government will not ground XEJET the way it did to Dana Air.
He pointed out that the government would await the report of the Nigeria Safety and Investigation Bureau before taking an appropriate decision following the skidding of the runway by an aircraft belonging to XEJET last Saturday.
This was disclosed by Moshood in a statement to a reporter on Monday, according to The Punch.
This was barely a month after an aircraft belonging to Dana Airline similarly skidded off the runway in April at the Murtala Muhammed Airport.
The minister of aviation, Festus Keyamo instructed the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority to suspend the airline’s operating licence, less than 24hrs after the incident
A Xejet airplane with 52 passengers onboard on Saturday departed Abuja and landed in Lagos at 11.29 am, where it skidded off the runway.
Moshood said that the minister would wait for the conclusion of the NSIB preliminary investigation, a report which by law is expected to be concluded within 30 days.
He said the minister did not have to react to the matter until the NSIB had concluded their investigation.
According to Moshood, Dana Air was suspended immediately since this was not the first incident involving the carrier.
He said, “It is in the news that NSIB has commenced an investigation into the incident. So, we await the report of the investigation. The minister doesn’t have to react to this one. You are a Nigerian and you will agree with me that the last time was not the first time Dana will be giving us such issues.
“And the last time, the minister didn’t suspend Dana. His role over these agencies is supervisory. And the document in circulation was only an internal memo. So, the NSIB has started its investigation and we don’t want to be preemptive.”
Commenting on this development, a former commandant of the Murtala Mohammed International Airport, Lagos, Group Captain John Ojikutu accused Keyamo of interfering in the duties of the NCAA.
He noted that the Minister did not have the power to order the NCAA to enforce the suspension of Dana Air.
Ojukutu urged the Minister to focus on ensuring that safety recommendations drawn up by experts, notably from NSIB are implemented.
He said, “They should not be looking for excuses to be doing what they are doing. It is not unusual for aircraft to have excursions on the runway, particularly on a wet day. It happened to Air Peace in Port Harcourt twice within a week. So, what are we talking about?
“If the minister wants to get involved just like the two ministers that have come before him, he should ensure safety recommendations are implemented. I want to know how many of the safety recommendations by NISB have been implemented. Why hasn’t he implemented these recommendations? That would have been a better way for him to come in and not the way he is going about it now.
“He has not got the right to ask the NCAA to suspend Dana. It is an indictment of the NCAA.”
