TheCable

Musa Nuhu, director-general of the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), says it will be criminal not to take any action against Azman Air.

Nuhu told members of the senate committee on aviation on Tuesday that the agency’s aim is not to kill any airline but to ensure that their challenges are addressed.

The NCAA suspended the operations of Azman Air over safety concerns.

Aeroplanes operated by the airline have suffered two incidents within the last month at the Abuja and Kaduna airports.

“They keep having issues relating to the same issue with similar facts and we tend to have issues with their maintenance of that particular part,” Nuhu said.

“To be honest, it would be irresponsible and criminal negligence on our own part not to take any action. If I ground any airline, It means loss of money for the operator.

“It is going to cause inconvenience for a lot of people. But I rather inconvenience people than be here explaining a different thing because God forbid, if anything happens, in the whole of this room, I would be the only person here sweating.

“I would be the only person you would hold responsible. It would be criminal or otherwise not to take action. Our action is not to kill the airline.

“Our action is to work with the airline to see what the problems are and resolve them so that they can become a safe airline where we can recommend people to comfortably fly with them.”

On his part, Smart Adeyemi, chairman of the committee, thanked the NCAA for being proactive in grounding Azman.

“For me, the step you have taken might be a bit tough but at least it is better than what may have happened. You deserve our commendation. We are happy that you have properly briefed us and we want to urge you to continue,” he said.

“Finally we want to call on the federal government to give more support to the aviation sector.

“There is still a need to take more steps to support the industry. Once the roads are not safe, then we must take the pains to encourage more people to fly.”