7th June, 2012
A member of the Lagos State House of Assembly, Mufutau Egberongbe, has decried the rot in the aviation sector and wondered why the government and people are not proactive to stop crises in the sector before they occur.
Egberongbe, who spoke at the Assembly complex in reaction to Sunday’s crash of an aircraft belonging to Dana Air in Iju-Ishaga, Lagos State, said it was time for the country to rise against unethical practices in the sector.
He lamented that the government had to wait for a crash to occur before deciding to review airline operations in the country.
He urged pilots to reject any instruction from management of any faulty plane.
ìYou can see that the nation has been thrown into another period of mourning due to what I call ineptitude and carelessness in the administration of the aviation sector.
ìIt is high time pilots in the country refuse to fly any plane they observed was defective since they don’t have any spare life to rely on should there be any crash,î he advised.
The lawmaker who is also the House Committee Chairman on Physical Planning and Urban Development, said the pilots should form an association if they do not have one to fight any move by owners of airlines to force them into flying faulty planes.
ìI also urge President Goodluck Jonathan to redeem the image of his government by ensuring that this incident is probed and the culprits brought to book,î he said.
By Eromosele Ebhomele