The Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo, has alleged that everyone including a puff-puff sellers at the airport, has a say over aviation matters in the country.
Keyamo led this out on Channels Television’s Politics Today, while reacting to Nigerian Civil Aviation Authorities’ action over the health status of Dana Airline on Thursday.
Recall that NCAA had earlier suspended the Air Operator Certificate of Dana Airlines with immediate effect over safety concerns.
The airline suspension came barely 48 hours after an aircraft (MD82 with registration marks 5SN-BKI) with 83 passengers and crew members on board belonging to Dana Air experienced a runway incursion on Tuesday upon landing at the domestic wing of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Lagos from Abuja.
Reacting to the development, Keyamo said that he never wrote to the airline but instructed the NCAA to do so.
READ MORE: FG Orders Immediate Suspension Of Dana Air
He added that if the aircraft in the country’s aviation sector are not properly checked, then there will be flying coffins in the air.
He said: “The last thing I want to do is deceive Nigerians about the state of health of commercial aircraft.
“There was an audit two years ago that confirmed the unhealthy status of Dana aircraft, and then at some points, something happened, and I said, go back and review it and see how thorough was that before I allowed them to fly again.
“The problem with this sector is that we have people who claim to be experts everywhere. Everybody is an aviation expert. People who have sold puff puff at the airport will tell you that they have been at the airport for a long time, so they are aviation experts.
“And I have challenged them over and over again since I came to office to come on TV if they have ideas and better ways to run the aviation sector and debate with me because what we have done since we came was to set clear priority areas for ourselves.”
